Nile was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council on 19 September 1981 with 9.1% of the vote as the founder of the Call to Australia (Fred Nile) Group, established in 1977. Following the election to the Legislative Council of Jim Cameron (in 1984) and Nile's wife, Elaine (1988), the Call to Australia Group was officially recognised as a political party. Fred Nile was re-elected to the Council at the 1991 and 1999 state elections before resigning from the council on 30 August 2004 in order to contest the 2004 Federal election, seeking a position in the Australian Senate on a platform of opposition of the recognition of gay marriages. Nile was the last candidate excluded after the distribution of votes on the 77th count, and was not elected to the Senate. A few months later, he was reappointed to the Legislative Council to fill the vacancy created by his resignation. At the 2007 New South Wales state election, Nile was re-elected for a further eight-year term and was appointed to the newly created position of Assistant President of the NSW Legislative Council. In 2014, Nile announced that he will be contesting the next state election in 2015 with his deputy and successor, Ross Clifford.