In 1975 he became Publicity and Development Officer with the Productivity Promotion Council of Australia, but returned to London in 1978 to become Professions Adviser (Migration) with the Australian High Commission.
An active member of the Liberal Party, he unsuccessfully contested the seat of Aston in the 1987 federal election.
[1] In 1992, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for the newly created seat of Bayswater.
It had been created as a notional Labor seat, but Ashley claimed it for the Liberals as part of the massive Coalition landslide that year.
Ashley ran instead as an independent and gained 9.2% of the vote; his preferences went towards ensuring Victoria's defeat of Lockwood.