Representing the Australian Labor Party, he was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electorates of West Melbourne (1903–1904), Eaglehawk (1907–1920) and Collingwood (1921–1947).

He was heavily involved in a number of radical political organisations around the turn of the century, including the Victorian Socialist League.

However, the electorate was abolished six months later following a redistribution, and Tunnecliffe did not return to the Victorian parliament until 1907, when he won the seat of Eaglehawk in the Bendigo region.

After his defeat in 1920 by the Country Party candidate, Albert Dunstan, Tunnecliffe went back to Melbourne and was elected to the Assembly in 1921 as the member for Collingwood, a seat he held for the next 26 years.

[1] In February 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Premier Hogan travelled to London to talk to the banks about Victoria's desperate economic plight.