Bill Ludwig unloads on Kevin Rudd

FACTIONAL warlord Bill Ludwig has vented growing Labor frustration with Kevin Rudd, questioning the former prime minister's loyalty.

FACTIONAL warlord Bill Ludwig has vented growing Labor frustration with Kevin Rudd, questioning the former prime minister's loyalty and accusing him of putting personal interest "first, second, third and fourth".

Mr Ludwig's attack on a man he initially supported as Labor leader, only to turn on him and endorse his replacement last June by Julia Gillard, reflects growing concern in the ALP that Mr Rudd's courting of media attention and his determination to speak out as he sees fit on his time in office is destabilising the government.

Mr Ludwig, the veteran national president and Queensland secretary of the powerful Australian Workers Union, said loyalty was essential in politics and it had always been his position to support the leader and party policies "as best you can until such time as they do a Kevin Rudd on you".

He told The Weekend Australian Mr Rudd's admission on national television last week that shelving the emissions trading scheme was a mistake, for which he was responsible, was "typical Kevin".

Asked to elaborate, Mr Ludwig said: "Geez, he's out there and everybody can see him. Kevin's Kevin. Kevin comes first, second, third and fourth."

Mr Rudd was travelling yesterday after attending a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, and could not be contacted.

But the two Queenslanders share a long personal history, having moved in the same circles at the apex of Labor politics for more than two decades, sometimes uneasily.

Mr Ludwig came out publicly with AWU national secretary Paul Howes on the night Mr Rudd was rolled as leader 10 months ago, to confirm that the then prime minister had lost the backing of their union.

Mr Rudd hit back at the pair in February, branding them "factional thugs" for declaring war on mining giant Rio Tinto at the AWU's national conference and savaging Trade Minister Craig Emerson when he suggested they moderate their language.

The right-wing Labor faction in Queensland based on the AWU, now known as Labor Forum, underpinned the Goss state Labor government in the 1990s that was Mr Rudd's springboard into politics.

Mr Ludwig, 76, has been undisputed boss of the AWU's heartland branch in Queensland since 1988 and kingpin of Labor Forum, which boasts Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan as a member.

In addition, Mr Ludwig is national president of the AWU and a member of the Labor Party's national executive.

He revealed he had lost confidence in Mr Rudd after the 2009 Copenhagen summit on climate change failed to secure an international deal on reducing greenhouse gas pollution, undermining the then prime minister's signature emissions trading scheme, which was shelved.

"The guy just had nowhere to go - he didn't try to defend his position, he just dropped it," Mr Ludwig said.

Mr Rudd's mistake was to place "too much political capital in Copenhagen", Mr Ludwig said.

"When it fell over he was stunned. He couldn't believe he couldn't persuade all of those 140 countries or whatever they were that he was right and they were wrong . . . he misjudged the whole process of Copenhagen."

At the time of being interviewed, Mr Ludwig was not aware of comments to this newspaper by AWU national secretary Paul Howes, warning that the union movement would withdraw support for Ms Gillard's interim carbon tax if it cost "one job".

Both were locked in talks on the carbon tax yesterday in Sydney with senior members of the AWU's NSW branch.

While Mr Ludwig conceded in the interview some industries covered by his blue-collar union "might be disadvantaged to some degree", this would be addressed by compensation from the proposed carbon pricing mechanism.

Mr Ludwig urged the Prime Minister to "stay on course" and put a price on carbon. "They are committed to the carbon tax and they have got to implement that," he said. "And I think they will."

Mr Ludwig said he had no regrets about backing Ms Gillard. As the coup unfolded in Parliament House on the night of June 23 last year, he had joined Mr Howes in publicly supporting her.

"Minority government is very hard," Mr Ludwig said. "But I'm of the view this government will run its course."