After moving to Queensland in 1987, Bradford was National Director of the Shopping Centre Tenants Association of Australia.
He was active in local politics in Sydney, sitting on Warringah Shire Council (including two terms as Deputy Shire President) and the Mackellar County Council from 1977 to 1979 (Deputy Chair, 1979).
[1] In 1990, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for McPherson, Queensland.
[3][4] Bradford was endorsed by the Christian Democratic Party in 2000 as the successor to Elaine Nile in the New South Wales Legislative Council.
After Bradford's defeat in the 1998 federal election, he went to work for Mercy Ships, a Christian medical charity.