Prior to entering politics he worked as a compositor, schoolteacher and director of a TAFE college.
[2] Raguse gained Labor pre-selection to contest the normally safe Liberal seat of Forde at the 2007 federal election.
A position previously held by retiring Liberal Kay Elson.
[3][4] He lost his seat in the 2010 federal election to the LNP candidate Bert van Manen.
[6] In 2016, Raguse resigned his Labor party membership to run for Mayor as an Independent.