Brown was elected as Member for Kiama in 1999, representing the  Labor Party. He was sworn in as Minister for Housing and Tourism on 2 April 2007, and promoted to Minister for Police and Minister for the Illawarra on 8 September 2008.
In 1999, Brown was selected to represent Kiama in parliament as a member of the Labor Party. He took office as housing and tourism minister on April 2, 2007, before being promoted to police minister and Illawarra regional minister on September 8, 2008.