In 1997, Western Australian Senator John Panizza died, and Lightfoot, having been selected to fill the vacancy, moved to federal politics.

[1] He soon became a controversial figure within the party, and was rebuked by Prime Minister John Howard for telling the Senate that Aborigines in their native state were the lowest colour on the civilisation spectrum.

[2] Lightfoot was one of a small group of Liberal MPs willing to make a preference deal with controversial MP Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party.

His comments led to numerous moves to oust him from membership of his own party, but he hung on, as he was seen to represent a movement of rural conservatives in Western Australia.

Lightfoot physically blocked the path of the senators, elbowing Brown and reportedly telling Nettle to "Fuck off and die".

[4] On 17 March 2005, News Limited newspapers reported that Lightfoot, while on a parliamentary tour to Iraq, smuggled US$20,000 into the country on behalf of Woodside Petroleum as a donation for the Kurdish government, having been issued with a pistol for personal security.

[5] In April 2007, facing near-certain defeat in a preselection challenge by Liberal Party vice-president Mathias Cormann, he announced he would retire at the end of his term in the Senate.