He held a history degree and a business studies diploma from Massey University in Palmerston North,[1] and attended Green College (now Green Templeton College), University of Oxford, England, in 2000 as a Chevening/David Low journalism fellow under the Reuters Foundation Programme.

Hunt was a former editor-at-large of the National Business Review, Auckland, and a former editor of that paper's annual Rich List.

[2] Hunt was deputy chairman of One Tree Hill College Board of Trustees, Auckland (his old school),[3] and was formerly deputy chairman of Kelston Girls' College Board of Trustees, Auckland.

[4] Hunt was a critic of New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system and campaigned for its abolition.

[7] Hunt was married to Saluma (née Ioane), a human resources manager, originally from Niue.