He held the post as Minister of Children and Equality in Jens Stoltenberg's second government from October 2009 to March 2012,[1] when he resigned due to a conflict of interest.

[2] Under his leadership, the Socialist Left Party made strong gains in its vote share in Parliamentary elections and membership.

After his university studies, he performed mandatory civil service instead of conscript military duty, serving as a secretary at Norsk Økologisk Landbrukslag and as a journalist in the daily Klassekampen 2000–2001.

He was named parliamentary leader of his party group,[6] but was shortly thereafter appointed as Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion in Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet on 20 October 2009, as the first man to hold this post.

[1] Under Lysbakken's leadership, the Socialist Left Party, which had declined steadily in the polls since joining Jens Stoltenberg's "Red-Green" government, bounced back, increasing its parliamentary group after gains in the 2017 election.

[16] In January 2012, the newspaper Dagbladet reported that the Ministry of Children and Equality had awarded NOK 500,000 to two groups to fund self-defense education for high school girls.

[17] Although approved by parliament to combat a recent spike in sexual assaults, the allocation was made without public notice, in violation of internal government rules.

[17][18] As Lysbakken was on parental leave when the case broke, his State secretary, Henriette Westhrin, reported that the allocation was made according to "completely normal procedure".

Lysbakken later apologized unreservedly, calling the affair an "error of judgment" on his behalf and promising a "full review" of the Ministry's past funding of external projects.

[17][19] In the wake of the disclosure, Lysbakken's conflict of interest in the allocation of funds to the NGO Reform, where he had been a member of the board until assuming his ministerial post, also came to attention.

[22][23] His conduct was labeled "political corruption" by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International's Norwegian branch,[24] a position that was echoed by scholar Petter Gottschalk.

During this inquiry's final hearing, Lysbakken was lauded by opposition leader of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs, Anders Anundsen, for taking his constitutional responsibility and resigning, and his successor Inga Marte Thorkildsen received praise for taking measures "which could make one of the worst ministries into one of the best" in its allocation practices.

He makes the case that SV is a party rooted as strongly in socialist views as in the green, environmental tradition, and that he sees the question of climate change in terms of intergenerational and international equity.

[29][30] Earlier, as deputy leader of the Socialist Youth, Lysbakken described himself as a Marxist, and expressed wishes to "abolish capitalism" as well as the Oslo Stock Exchange.