He served as Mayor of Williamstown and on the Melbourne City Council, and was also a long-serving president of the Victorian Football Association.

He later became the licensee of a local hotel, and served as secretary of the Liquor Trades' Defence Union (LTDU), an organisation devoted to countering the temperance movement.

Liston represented the city on the Melbourne Harbor Trust, and oversaw the construction of the Williamstown Town Hall (opened 1927).

He was also a trustee of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and a prominent racehorse owner, serving as president of the Williamstown Racing Club from 1939 to 1944.

[4] Liston supported amalgamation with the larger and wealthier Victorian Football League (VFL), and when that did not eventuate controversially suggested that the VFA might merge with soccer or rugby.

A VFA meeting passed a resolution "congratulating him on his broad-mindedness", although the Northcote Football Club's delegate attempted to move a censure motion.