Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has paid tribute to Wayne Goss, saying his former boss will go down in history as Queensland's greatest postwar premier.
"The fact that he chose a political vocation, with all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that attend it, made Queensland a decisively better place for us all," Mr Rudd said in a statement.
Mr Goss died overnight at the age of 63 after a long fight against brain cancer.
Mr Rudd worked as chief of staff for Mr Goss and served as director-general of the state cabinet office during his time as premier.
He paid tribute to Mr Goss for changing the state following 32 years of conservative rule.
"Had there been no Wayne Goss, who knows how long the state would have had to endure the most corrupt electoral system in the country's history?" Mr Rudd said.
It was through the sheer power of his personality, an extraordinary determination, and a deep sense of justice that Mr Goss drove change, Mr Rudd said.
"He managed to triumph despite the gerrymander, and then destroy the gerrymander altogether, and for all time," Mr Rudd said.
"No one else could have done it. He did."
