Alan Hunt (politician)

Alan John Hunt AM (9 October 1927 – 19 July 2013)[1] was an Australian politician, having been a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1961 until 1992.

The Honourable

Alan Hunt

AM
President of the Victorian Legislative Council
In office
1988 – 2 October 1992
Preceded byRod Mackenzie
Succeeded byBruce Chamberlain
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for South Eastern Province
In office
15 July 1961 – 2 October 1992
Personal details
Born
Alan John Hunt

(1927-10-09)9 October 1927
Peterborough, South Australia
Died19 July 2013(2013-07-19) (aged 85)
Frankston, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal Party
Other political
affiliations		Liberal and Country Party
ChildrenBob Hunt Greg Hunt Peter Hunt John Hunt Stephen Hunt
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
ProfessionSolicitor

Hunt started his education in South Australia and later attended Melbourne Grammar School. He then went to the University of Melbourne where he was a non-resident law student at Trinity College.[2] He was president of the Melbourne University Liberals from 1948–50 and secretary of the then National Union of Australian University Students.[1] After obtaining a law degree he practised as a solicitor until entering the Legislative Council in 1961, representing the Liberal Party.

Hunt was first appointed as a minister in 1971, under the premiership of Henry Bolte. He served in a variety of portfolios under the Bolte, Hamer and Thompson governments, most notability as Minister for Local Government, Minister for Planning and Minister for Education.

From 1979 to 1982 the Hamer government initiated and implemented the most significant and far-reaching reorganisation of the Victorian Education Department in the 20th Century.[3][4][5] Hunt as Minister of Education (1979 – 1982) and Norman Lacy as Assistant Minister of Education (1979 – 1980) were jointly responsible for the reform policy development process and the early stages of its implementation.[6] Together they made a formidable team in the pursuit of their mission to reform the administration of the centralised and inefficient Department. Hunt appointed Lacy Chairman of the Ministerial Consultative Committee that steered the project in its early phase and the Implementation Steering Committee later. He pulled together an impressive group of people from academia and business to assist him as well as PA Management Consultants. The Government legislated - at the end of 1981 - to scrap the teaching divisions (Primary, Secondary and Technical) and to remove the statutory bodies (The Committee of Classifiers and the Teachers’ Tribunal).[7]

Alan Hunt also served as leader of the government in the Legislative Council from 1978 until the Liberals lost government in 1982.

He retired from politics in 1992 and was the father of current Federal Liberal parliamentarian Greg Hunt.

References
  1. "Former state Planning Minister Alan Hunt has died". Mornington Peninsula Leader. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  2. "Class Lists", The Fleur-de-Lys, Dec. 1947, p. 19.
  3. Aims and Objectives of Education in Victoria Ministerial Statement by The Hon A.J. Hunt MLC Minister of Education in the Legislative Council and The Hon Norman Lacy MP Assistant Minister of Education in the Legislative Assembly on 12 December 1979
  4. Alan Hunt and Norman Lacy, Strategies and Structures for Education in Victoria, Victorian Government Printer, 1981
  5. Alan J. Hunt, "A Government Thrusts Towards Change" in M Frazer, J Dunstan, P Creed Eds., Perspectives on Organisational Change, Longmans, 1985, pp 13 - 32
  6. Murray Landt - Past President Victorian Primary Principals Association - "The years 1980 and 1981 were very significant years in the history of state education in Victoria. For the first time in eighty years there was a complete restructure of the Education Department. "
  7. Education (Amendment) Bill Explanatory Second Reading Speech by The Hon. Norman Lacy MP Minister of Educational Services in the Legislative Assembly on 10 September 1981
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