Sanders spent the next few years as a small businessman, selling an ecologically sound, efficient wood heater of his own design called the "Sanders Hot Prospect Stove" from the back of a truck at the Salamanca Market. He then turned his attention to federal politics and was elected as a Democrats senator at the 1984 election on an environmental platform, his term commencing on 1 July 1985. He was the only person to represent the Australian Democrats in both a state parliament and the Federal Parliament.