Post-athletics
She maintained her Olympic involvement, in athlete administration, with the Australian teams during the 1968 and 1976 Olympics in Mexico City and Montreal.
Shirley de la Hunty stood several times without success as a candidate for the Australian Democrats in the 1980s, resigning from the party to contest the 1989 Western Australian Legislative Council election as an independent, again without success. She later served as a local government councillor for the City of Melville.
She was one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales. She carried the Olympic Torch as one of the runners for the final segment in the stadium, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame.
In 2001 Shirley attracted media attention by auctioning her sporting memorabilia including her Olympic gold medals. She was criticised by some for that but asserted she had a right to do so and the income generated would help pay for her grandchildren's education and allow a sizable donation to assist in securing old-growth forests from use by developers. Her memorabilia was eventually acquired for the National Sports Museum in Melbourne by a group of anonymous businessmen who shared her wish that the memorabilia would stay in Australia.
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