Ralph James Dunnet Hunt AO (31 March 192822 May 2011) was a Deputy Leader of the National Party of Australia. Hunt was born in

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At ...

, New South Wales to an established farming and grazing family, which traditions he continued after completing his schooling at

The Scots College , motto_translation = O that we may be worthy of our forefathers , location = Bellevue Hill, Eastern Suburbs, Sydney , country = Australia , type = Independent single-sex primary a ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. His mother's family, the Dunnetts, owned the ''North Western Courier'' newspaper. He was a councillor of Boomi Shire Council from 1956 to 1968 and Vice-President from 1962 to 1968. He won the seat of Gwydir in the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

for the Country Party at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in June 1969 following the resignation of Ian Allan. He was appointed

Minister for the Interior Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

in the Second Gorton Ministry in February 1971 and retained that position in the McMahon Ministry until the defeat of the government at the 1972 election. Following the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

-National Country Party Coalition's win at the 1975 election,

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

appointed him

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Count ...

. He was responsible for introducing Medibank Mark II. In December 1979, Fraser appointed Hunt

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

. His portfolio became

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

and

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

in April 1982, but the coalition government was defeated at the 1983 election. He had returned to the backbench in preparation for retirement; but when

Doug Anthony John Douglas Anthony, (31 December 192920 December 2020) was an Australian politician. He served as leader of the National Party of Australia from 1971 to 1984 and was the second and longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister, holding the position ...

resigned in 1984, Hunt was persuaded to return to the front bench and was elected Deputy Leader of the National Party to

Ian Sinclair Ian McCahon Sinclair (born 10 June 1929) is a former Australian politician who served as leader of the National Party from 1984 to 1989. He was a government minister under six prime ministers, and later Speaker of the House of Representative ...

, holding the position from 1984 to 1987. He became shadow minister for primary industries, and resigned from Parliament in February 1989. He was made an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in January 1990. Ralph Hunt died in

on 22 May 2011, aged 83.Sydney Morning Herald, 22 May 2011
/ref> He was survived by his wife Miriam (Mim) née McMahon, whom he married in 1953; and three children.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Ralph James Dunnet Members of the Cabinet of Australia National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Gwydir Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1928 births 2011 deaths Officers of the Order of Australia People educated at Scots College (Sydney) 20th-century Australian politicians Government ministers of Australia Australian Ministers for Health