Foley set up the first Aboriginal Information Centre in London. On returning to Australia, he organised protests against the Brisbane Commonwealth Games held in 1982. He was the first Indigenous director of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council between 1983 and 1986 and held other leadership positions in the Aboriginal community. In 1988, he organised Aboriginal protests against the Australian Bicentenary in 1988 before becoming a consultant to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. He ran as an independent candidate for the seat of Jagajaga at the 1993 federal election in protest against the closure of Northlands Secondary College.