Bill Shorten’s rise to the top began at Beaconsfield mine disaster in 2006

The small town of Beaconsfield couldn’t be much more different to Canberra, but it was there, more than a decade ago, that Bill Shorten began his march to The Lodge.

When the Tasmanian gold mine collapsed at 9.26pm on Anzac Day, 2006, the then Australian Workers Union national secretary was in Canada on a business trip.

But within hours Mr Shorten had begun the journey to Tasmania, wanting to be there as the effort got underway to rescue trapped miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb.

It took 14 days to free the pair, during which time Mr Shorten became the face of the incident – his face broadcast endlessly into homes across the country with regular updates on the search.

His support for the miners, their families and the small town of 1,000 people was the first step on his way to being the front-runner for the upcoming election on May 18.

Now, on the 13th anniversary of the day he walked free, Todd Russell told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Shorten had kept in regular touch since the disaster and is, in his view, the best man to lead the country.

In his role as national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Mr Shorten (pictured) became the face of the Beaconsfield disaster by providing regular updates to media throughout the 14 days that Mr Russell and Mr Webb remained trapped in the gold mine (pictured in background)

Mr Shorten’s heavy involvement in the Beaconsfield disaster made him a household name and was the catalyst for his rapid rise through the ranks of the Labor party and federal politics 

‘He’s a ripper of a bloke. He’ll have my support – he always has,’ Mr Russell said of the Labor leader.

‘My mum, dad and (my ex-wife) Caroline all had a hell of a lot to do with him over the 14 days (I was trapped), and they loved him.

‘You find people either love Bill Shorten or you hate Bill Shorten, but the way I see it, a lot of people don’t see the “real” Bill Shorten behind the scenes.

‘I sat and watched his interview yesterday when he talked about where he came from with his mother and his brother… it just goes to show he is a human.’ 

Mr Shorten’s involvement in the Beaconsfield disaster began on Friday, April 28 – the day he finally arrived in the small town after flying in from the other side of the world.

The day before he got there, rescue crews had recovered the body of Mr Knight. 

While the crews continued to search for Mr Russell and Mr Webb, many feared by the time they got to them it would be too late.

Mr Shorten spent close to 48 hours on the ground in Beaconsfield, before flying back to his hometown of Melbourne on Sunday, with the intention of returning a day later.

But at 5.45pm on Sunday, April 30, two rescuers breached safety protocols and went down to the level where the two trapped miners had last been. 

Once there, they yelled out and Mr Russell and Mr Webb responded: ‘We’re in here’.

The two men famously spent the first five days sharing a single muesli bar between them, collecting water in their helmets as it seeped through the rocks and kept their spirits high by singing ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers, the only song both men knew.

The first photo taken of Todd Russell (right) and Brant Webb (left) after rescue workers reached them in the early hours of May 9, 2006

Todd Russell (pictured) was more than 900 metres underground when an earthquake caused a collapse in the mine, trapping him and his colleague Brant Webb. The pair were underground for 14 days before finally walking free in the early hours of May 9, 2006

The image of Mr Russell and Mr Webb removing their tags from the wall where they had sat for the past 14 days remains one of the most iconic in Australian history

Mr Russell said he has ‘always’ supported Mr Shorten and said his emotional speech about his mother (pictured) on Wednesday showed the human side to him that not many people see

Mr Shorten defended his mother Ann (pictured) after it was suggested he had left key details about her life out of a speech he gave on Q&A on Monday night  

Upon hearing that the two men were alive, Mr Shorten called billionaire businessman Richard Pratt – a family friend of his then wife Deborah Beale – and asked to borrow a private jet so he could get to Tasmania fast.

‘I knew it was important to be on the ground early and quickly,’ Mr Shorten said.

He did not leave Tasmania again until days after Mr Russell and Mr Webb were freed. 

It just so happened that Mr Shorten’s mother Ann was a friend of the mine manager.

In discussions between the union and the mine it was agreed that it would be best if Mr Shorten took the lead when it came to dealing with the media.

At the time of the mine collapse the union boss had already been considered a likely future Labor politician and potential party leader.

But Mr Shorten bristled at suggestions his involvement in the Beaconsfield disaster was done with one eye on his future political ambitions.

‘The whole issue is not about me – it’s about the blokes,’ he said.

Mr Shorten would end up becoming the member for Maribyrnong little more than a year later, but his good friend Mr Russell said the Labor leader’s intentions were always pure.

Mr Russell (left) told Daily Mail Australia that every year around Anzac Day – the anniversary of them becoming trapped underground – both he and Mr Webb (far right) receive a call from Mr Shorten (centre). ‘He rings me and says: ‘Hey mate, I’m thinking of ya’,’ Mr Russell revealed

Mr Shorten walks alongside Brant Webb (front) and Todd Russell (back) in the days after they were freed from the mine. He has returned to Tasmania and caught up with the men on multiple occasions since

‘I find Bill on a personal note very professional and what he did for my family, Brant’s family and Larry’s family too, during the course of the rescue and after it, you’ve got to take your hat off to him,’ the former miner said.

‘And here he is, 13 years later, and he still rings me every year around Anzac Day.

‘It may not be on Anzac Day – and this year it wasn’t, it was a couple of days after – but he rings me and says: ‘Hey mate, I’m thinking of ya’.

‘So then we’ll have a 10 or 15 minute conversation away from politics and I just said to him: ‘Bill, I appreciate the phone call with everything you’re going through right now with your campaign’.

‘There’s a lot of people out there that dislike him, but on a personal note if they got to know the person that he is behind the scenes he’s a tremendous guy – he really is.’