Kingmaker of PMs and premiers Bill Ludwig dies

Bill Ludwig, the former shearer who shaped modern Queensland Labor politics as a union leader and played kingmaker, has died, age 87.

Annastacia Palaszczuk with Bill Ludwig. Picture: Mike Batterham

Bill Ludwig, the former shearer who shaped modern Queensland Labor politics as a union leader and played kingmaker to the fate of premiers and prime ministers, has died, age 87.

The longtime state secretary and later national president of the Australian Workers Union was among the most influential figures in Queensland Labor, helping to ensure the then-dominance of the Right faction in the party over decades.

Ludwig’s death, on April 11, surrounded by his family and followed by a private service “at Bill’s request”, was unknown to most in Labor until this week’s appearance of a brief funeral notice.

His quiet passing is in stark contrast to the life of the straight-talking union boss, who, even deep into retirement, proved prophetic in his public warning ahead of the 2019 federal election about the voter impact of a “few lefties” in the Palaszczuk government blocking the Adani coal project and endangering “coalies” jobs.

The delay in the mine’s ­approval was later blamed for the Labor Party’s worst primary vote in the state at a federal election in years.

Born in Longreach, western Queensland, in 1934, Ludwig was 12 when his mother died.

He attended Marist Brothers College in Brisbane before leaving school at 15 and heading west to go shearing.

In 2013, when he was given life membership of the union, he said it was the graziers’ moves to cut shearers’ wages in 1955, when wool prices were never better, that led him to take an active role in the AWU.

“I got real angry – that anger has stuck with me and it doesn’t take much to bring it back,” he said of that time.

He was blacklisted for involvement in the dispute, went to ­Victoria to work, came back and became an AWU organiser.

He worked his way through the union before becoming state secretary in 1988, subsequently lending his union’s backing to Wayne Goss’s push for election as Queensland premier in 1989.

It began his decades of influence as head of the “AWU Right faction” in Queensland and in the rise of Labor figures such as Wayne Swan, Bill Shorten and Annastacia Palaszczuk – all members of the union.

Premiers Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh, both in other factions, needed his nod to secure the state Labor leadership.

Ludwig was among the “faceless men” behind the scenes, commissioning secret polling that helped trigger the ousting of Kevin Rudd as prime minister in 2010.

His public condemnation that Mr Rudd was “toxic” sent a message to the undecided within the Labor caucus to move against the sitting prime minister.

Ms Palaszczuk issued a statement on Wednesday, paying tribute to Ludwig, who was a long-serving member of the ALP national executive.

“It is with sadness I learned of the passing of Bill Ludwig OAM,’’ she said.

“Bill was revered … He will be remembered as one of Australia’s greatest union leaders.

“Bill Ludwig dedicated his life to improving the lot of working men and women of this state and this country.”

In a statement, the AWU said Ludwig was “a giant of the labour movement in Australia’’.

“If there is one value that ­defined Bill, it was his unwavering view that workers should be able to organise collectively and stand up for their interests against bad bosses and, if need be, against ­politicians,’’ the AWU statement said.

“In this way, Bill personified the very soul of the AWU.”

Ludwig is survived by two children, three grandchildren and a great-grandson.

His son, Joseph Ludwig, a lawyer, was a Queensland ALP senator from 1999 until 2016.