Ansett has said that he never visited his father's home in Mount Eliza, Victoria, or met his three stepsisters.
In North America, Ansett attended the University of Utah with an American Football scholarship.
Both federal and state governments in Australia took a protective stance regarding publicly owned companies, by restricting competition that might affect them.
[6][7] That meant, in essence, when Reg Ansett bought Avis Australia in 1977,[8] father and son became direct competitors.
[11] Ansett's participation in Budget commercials made him a well-known figure in Australia and allowed him to launch a secondary career as an actor.
During 1996, Ansett appeared in the ABC TV reality series, Australian Story.
[16] Ansett married a Japanese woman during his military service in Japan and they had three children together.
An avid marathon runner who still ran well into his eighties, he needed a hip replacement in his early seventies because of a fall during a jogging session.