[1] As W. S. Kelly and Sons, he and his father bred prize-winning Dorset Horn sheep,[2] including championship honours at the Melbourne Royal Show.

He was introduced to economic policy by his father, who served on the federal government's Tariff Board in the 1930s and was an advisor to Douglas Copland on agricultural product pricing during World War II.

[6] After Kelly's departure from the ministry, he wrote a column in the Australian Financial Review, Modest Member, supporting free trade.

[7] When the seat of Angas was abolished in 1977, its member Geoffrey Giles beat Kelly for preselection for Wakefield.

Kelly's funeral was attended by former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Ray Evans, the former head of Western Mining Corporation and president of the right-wing H. R. Nicholls Society.

[4][5][8]Bert was opposed to protectionism … because it created a situation in which governments, in the person of ministers or officials, granted arbitrary and capricious favours to some, who were thus greatly enriched, at the expense of others, who were at best impoverished and at worst, ruined.No private member has had as much influence in changing a major policy of the major parties.In 1936, Kelly married Lorna Hill, with whom he had three sons.