Ronald Alexander Best (3 October 1949 – 14 October 2020) was an Australian politician and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er. He was a

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

from 1988 to 2002, representing North Western Province.

Career

Best was born in

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. He was a businessman before entering politics. He was a

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

and

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

owner and manager and also owned Golden City Frozen Foods. He was on the board of directors of the Glacier Food Group. He contested the federal seat of

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

for the

National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia, commonly known as the Nationals or simply the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. Traditionally represe ...

at the 1987 federal election but was defeated. In 1988, Best was elected to the

for North Western Province. He was the National Party's spokesman for Housing, Construction and Small Business until 1990 and secretary of the Parliamentary National Party from 1992 to 2002. Following the

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

's defeat in 1999, he was promoted to the front bench as Shadow Minister for Housing. He retired in 2002. He married Liberal MP Louise Asher on 10 February 2001. He is survived by his children from his first marriage, Chris and Elizabeth, and two grandchildren, Ari and Eden.

Football

Best kicked 1919 goals in country football, mostly in the

Bendigo Football League The Bendigo Football Netball League (previously known as the Bendigo and District Football Association, Bendigo Football Association and Bendigo Football League) is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Bendigo regio ...

. He topped 100 goals in a season on 13 occasions. *1966: 60

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Diamond Valley Football League The Northern Football Netball League (NFNL), formerly known as the Diamond Valley Football League (DVFL) and later the Northern Football League (NFL), is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Diamond Creek, Victori ...

*1967: 68

*1968: 106

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and so ...

*1969: 137

*1970: 107

*1971: 111

*1972: 79 Charlton,

North Central Football League The North Central Football League is an Australian rules football league based in North Central Victoria, Australia. History At a Delegate's meeting in April 1930 of the North Central District Football League, the following club's had withdr ...

*1973: 108 Sandhurst,

*1974: 135 Sandhurst *1975: 145 Sandhurst *1976: 108 Sandhurst *1977: 25 Sandhurst *1978: 124

*1979: 132

*1980: 161

*1981: 100 Boort,

*1982: 25 Boort *1983: 124 Northern United,

*1984: 64 Northern United

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Ron 1949 births 2020 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Golden Square Football Club players Sandhurst Football Club players Australian hoteliers 21st-century Australian politicians Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Australia Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state) Australian rules footballers from Bendigo People from Ivanhoe, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne