He won preselection as a candidate for the Senate in the 1993 election but did not win a seat.
 He was then chosen to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Brian Archer in 1994, and was elected in his own right at the subsequent 1998 election and re-elected in 2004 and 2010.
Abetz was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence 1998–2001 and was Special Minister of State from January 2001 until 2006.

He has served as Chairman of the Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund Committee and Chairman of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
He also served as Chairman of the Attorney-General and Justice Government Members' Committee.

He was a member of a Parliamentary Delegation which visited France and Belgium in June and July 1997, and made an official visit to the United Kingdom in September 1999.

He was Minister for Forestry from a reshuffle of the Howard ministry in January 2006 until its defeat at the 2007 election.
 He commenced his portfolio by attacking the Australian Greens and environmentalists in general as anti-Australian.
He described the campaign against woodchipping as "akin to treason" and branded the Greens an "extreme left" party.
This allowed him to position the government's priorities as mainstream issues which both major parties wanted action on.
He won preselection as a candidate for the Senate in the 1993 election but did not win a seat.  He was then chosen to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Brian Archer in 1994, and was elected in his own right at the subsequent 1998 election and re-elected in 2004 and 2010. Abetz was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence 1998–2001 and was Special Minister of State from January 2001 until 2006.
He has served as Chairman of the Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund Committee and Chairman of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Attorney-General and Justice Government Members' Committee.
He was a member of a Parliamentary Delegation which visited France and Belgium in June and July 1997, and made an official visit to the United Kingdom in September 1999.
He was Minister for Forestry from a reshuffle of the Howard ministry in January 2006 until its defeat at the 2007 election.  He commenced his portfolio by attacking the Australian Greens and environmentalists in general as anti-Australian. He described the campaign against woodchipping as "akin to treason" and branded the Greens an "extreme left" party. This allowed him to position the government's priorities as mainstream issues which both major parties wanted action on.
Eric Abetz