[4][6][1][7] He became the Federal Director for the Family First Party in 2005 and ran for the South Australian Legislative Council the following year as their primary candidate.

Nine days after the 2018 state election, Hood defected to the Liberal Party following the Conservatives' extreme defeat, a move he was roundly criticised for.

[10] He claimed that the Liberal Party's platform overlapped significantly with his, while the Conservatives were too focused on federal issues and were likely to have "no impact" at the state level.

[15] In 2011, he introduced a law to increase police's powers to seize the computer of a convicted child molester without a court order for the purpose of examining its contents.

[17] In 2018, he opposed the continuation of Safe Schools, a policy that reduced bullying of LGBTQ+ students and trained staff on how to deal with sexuality-based abuse.

[19] The following year he also advocated for the creation of a police task force to address the backlog of unexecuted arrest warrants.

[23] That same year, despite not supporting decriminalisation, Hood criticised the proposed bill for failing to adequately protect sex workers.

[38] In 2009, Hood proposed laws to adopt this stance by setting minimum,[39] as opposed to maximum, sentences, which are rarely implemented by judges.

[49] He reaffirmed both of these beliefs again in 2014[50][51][4] and in 2016 proposed an amendment allowing medical professionals to refuse reproductive assistance to same-sex couples and single people.

[55][56] In 2008, Hood advocated for mandatory parental consent for children to get a body piercing[57] and worked with John Rau to outlaw scarification for minors.

[59][60] To fight child abuse, he suggested pragmatic checks by agencies other than the Department of Human Services, which had been garnering dissatisfaction from South Australians at the time.

In 2009, he rejected the Greens' call to name and shame religious schools that discriminate based on sexual orientation on their web site.

[66] In 2009, he promoted policies permitting the right to remove dangerous, sick and dying trees, and endorsed weekly garbage collection, which the Greens party strongly opposed.

[70] Following the 2010 election, Hood worked with other politicians to improve funding for mental healthcare, disability support, child protection, and public housing.