He became one of the youngest ever Australian federal Members of Parliament when he was elected to the Division of Adelaide on 26 November 1966,[2] aged just 22 years and 184 days.

The spoken-word record, Shadow Valley and Iron Triangles by "The Young Australians", described by Jones as "anti-Communist", by his supporters as "a reaction against the spate of sick immoral and depraved pseudo-folk music which pours from the radio" and by detractors as "awful" or "pure jingoism", was a local Adelaide hit for Jones, who donated the proceeds to charity.

It included such lines as "When you hear the anthem lift up your head, remember our past, see our glorious future and let your voice sing out, and friend, thank God you're free."

Following the loss, Jones's reasoning to Prime Minister John Gorton for his defeat, "not even Jesus Christ could have held Adelaide",[5] quickly entered Australian political folklore.

Jones later unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for the Senate at the 1977 federal election before moving to Western Australia and assuming a low profile.