He had also previously served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1989 to 1998, representing the seat of Glass House from 1989 to 1992, and Caboolture from 1992 to 1998.
However, the seat was returned to the Liberal National Party of Queensland at the 2010 election, when Sullivan was defeated by 20-year-old candidate, Wyatt Roy.
In the closing week of the 2010 federal election campaign, Sullivan gained national media attention due to a gaffe where he criticised the father of a seven-year-old child with a disability for waiting two years on a Queensland Health waiting list.
He lost the seat to Bill Feldman, the One Nation candidate at the 1998 Queensland state election.
His wife, Carryn Sullivan, also an Australian politician, was also a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, representing between 2001 and 2012 the seat of Pumicestone for Labor.