Johns joined the ALP in 1972. He worked as an organiser with the national secretariat of the ALP from 1978 to 1982, working under national secretaries David Combe and Bob McMullan.[2]
Since his defeat, Johns has drifted from the ALP and has been critical of his old party. Johns told Brett Evans that he might still be a member of the ALP but Evans says that in Johns' heart he has moved on from the ALP.[4] Johns now describes himself as a "small-l liberal".[4]
From 1997 to 2006, he was a senior fellow at the neo-liberal/conservativethink tank the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). He was head of the Non-Government Organisations unit within the IPA. From 2006-2009, Johns worked with a consultancy firm, ACIL Tasman. In 2009, he was appointed Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Australian Catholic University's Public Policy Institute. In 2012, he was appointed a visiting fellow at QUT Business School. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland. He was president of the Bennelong Society, an organisation that advocated the provision of welfare for Indigenous Australians under the same rules as for all other Australians. From 2002 to 2004, he was appointed Associate Commissioner of the Commonwealth Productivity Commission, an Australian government policy research and advisory body,[5] with the responsibility for an inquiry into the national workers' compensation and occupational health and safety framework.[6]
He was awarded a PhD in political science in 2001 from the University of Queensland, in 2002 the Fulbright Professional Award in Australian-United States Alliance Studies, Georgetown University in Washington D.C., and in 2003 the Centenary Medal for ‘service to Australian society through the advancement of economic, social and political issues'.
In 2023, Johns was chairman of Recognise a Better Way, a group arguing the "No" case regarding the Albanese government's proposal for Indigenous Voice to Parliament.[7]
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