Kenneth (Ken) Shaw Wriedt was born in Melbourne on 11 July 1927, the son of a German fitter and turner.  He was educated at University High School, Melbourne.  In 1944 he joined the Merchant Navy as a Ships Officer.  He continued in the Merchant Marine after the war, leaving it in 1958 and settling in Tasmania. He married Helga Ann-Rose Burger on 26 December 1959.  From 1958 to 1968 Senator Wriedt was an Insurance Officer, employed by the Tasmanian Government Insurance Office.
 
During this period he became State President of the Australian Insurance Staff Federation.  In 1964 he joined the Australian Labor Party and contested both State and Federal elections for the seat of Franklin.  

In 1967 he was elected to the Senate as the Senator for Tasmania, his term commencing on 1 July 1968. Wriedt became a member of three Senate committees in 1970.  These were the Senate Select Committee on Securities and Exchange, from 16 April;  the Senate Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Industry and Trade, from 4 November;  and the Senate Estimates Committee D.
 
Ken Wriedt became a member of the Federal Executive of the ALP in 1970, and was Treasurer of the State Branch of the ALP from 1972 to 1973.  Following the formation of the Australian Labor Party Government, he became Minister for Primary Industry on 19 December 1972, and a member of the Economic Standing Committee of Cabinet.  During April 1973 he attended the OECD Agricultural Ministers Meeting in Paris and visited the United States for official discussions on agriculture, followed by ministerial discussions in London.  As Minister for Primary Industry he was Chairman of several councils; the Australian Agricultural Council, the Australian Fisheries Council and the Australian Forestry Council.
 
On 12 June 1974, Wriedt became Minister for Agriculture, responsible for the re-named Department of Primary Industry [I].   After the resignation of Senator L K Murphy on 10 February 1975, Ken Wriedt was elected the Leader of the Government in the Senate.  He became a member of the Canberra National Memorials Committee.  Due to the resignation of R F X Connor as Minister for the Department of Minerals and Energy, Wriedt became the new Minister on 14 October 1975.
 
Ken Wriedt was returned to the Senate for Tasmania after the Double Dissolution of 1975.  He acted as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Shadow Minister for Minerals and Energy.  On 25 March 1976, he relinquished the shadow portfolio of Minerals and Energy and became Opposition Spokesman on Education.  Wriedt was a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Standing Orders, Senate Estimates Committee C and the Canberra National Memorials Committee.  On 30 December 1977 he became the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Manager of Opposition business in the Senate, sitting on the Senate Standing Committee on Standing Orders and Senate Estimates Committee B.  In 1979 he was a member of the Senate Estimates Committee A, joining the council of the Parliamentary Retiring Allowance Trust in 1980.
 
On 19 September 1980, following the dissolution of Parliament prior to the 1980 general election, Ken Wriedt announced that he would contest the Tasmanian Seat of Denison in the House of Representatives.  After his failure to win the seat, Wriedt announced that he would not continue with a political career. In 1981-1982 he was the Executive Director for Tasmania of the Australian Bicentennial Authority.

At the 1982 Tasmanian state election, Ken Wriedt won a seat in the Tasmanian House of Assembly representing Franklin. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1982 to 1986 and Minister for Policy and Emergency Services and for Roads and Transport from 1989 to 1990 in the Tasmanian minority government led by Michael Field. He resigned from Parliament of Tasmania on 5 October 1990.

Ken Wriedt died on 18 October 2010.


Sources
 
Who's Who in Australia 1977, p 1126
Australian Parliamentary Handbook, 1971, p 456, 451, 447
Australian Parliamentary Handbook, 1973, p 223
Commonwealth Directory, 1972, p 12
Australian Government Directory, 1973, p 17; 1974, pp 14, 229-231;
 1975, pp 25, 104
Commonwealth Directory, 1977, p 13; 1978, p 16; 1979, p 18; 1980,
 p 142 
The Age, 15 Oct 1975, p 3
The Australian, 24 Jan 1976, p 19; 12 Nov 1978,
Canberra Times, 26 Ma 1976, p 1; 3 July 1979, p 9; 21 Oct 1980, p 9 
Sydney Morning Herald, 2 Jun 1979, p 3; 4 Jun 1979, p 1
Commonwealth Gazette No 129E, 19 Dec 1972, p 1-2
Australian Government Gazette No 48B, 12 Jun 1974; No S207, 14 Oct
 1975; No S213, 21 Oct 1975
Tasmanian Parliamentary Year Book 1984/85, p 168
‘Former Labor leader dies’, ABC News online, accessed 20 October 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/18/3041599.htm.
‘Wriedt, Kenneth Shaw’, The Parliament of Tasmania from 1856, Parliament of Tasmania website, accessed 20 October 2010, http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/history/tasparl/wriedt642.htm
Who’s Who in Australia 1991, p 1256

Agency associated with person unregistered

19 Dec 1972-14 Oct 1975: Australian Forestry Council - Chairman
       1975-       1978: Canberra National Memorials Committee -
                         Member
       1979-19 Sep 1980: Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust -
                         Member
   May 1982-           : House of Assembly, Tasmania - Member and
                         State Opposition Leader