Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has made his first public appearance since being hospitalised with a mystery illness last last year.
Mr Andrews was rushed to hospital in Melbourne in late December after suffering what is now believed to have been a stroke, but the cause of the medical episode is yet to be confirmed and he is yet to make a statement about his condition.
The controversial Labor figure turned up in parliament on Wednesday to attend the valedictory speech of MP Emma Vulin, who is retiring in November due to her motor neurone disease diagnosis, and once worked in Mr Andrews’ electorate office.
Mr Andrews, who looked gaunt while seated in the public gallery dressed in a blue suit without a tie, was ushered out after the speech by former colleagues, the Herald Sun reported.
He is also understood to have been making calls to support embattled premier Jacinta Allan amid rumours she is set to face a leadership challenge ahead of the November state election, with Labor running third in the polls behind One Nation and the Coalition.
The appearance was the first time Mr Andrews has been photographed in public since his illness, although he was also rumoured to have been spotted on a golf course last month.
The level of secrecy around Mr Andrews’ condition and treatment after his hospitalisation in December sparked speculation he suffered a Covid vaccine injury, and Monash Clayton Hospital staff were sacked in January for accessing his records.
The former premier is believed to have undergone an intensive rehabilitation program after being left with speech and movement issues following the medical episode, and an insider said in February those close to the ex-premier had “locked down information like Michael Schumacher’s family”.
Mr Andrews was previously put in intensive care at the Alfred Hospital after fracturing his spine and breaking several ribs at a holiday rental at Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula in 2021.
He said he slipped on two small wooden steps, but his office’s initial refusal to provide details about the accident or the location generated conspiracy theories, all of which he has since dismissed.
Mr Andrews resigned as premier in 2023 after overseeing Victoria’s human rights-violating response to Covid, including the world’s longest lockdowns, which he imposed on Melbourne along with vaccine and mask mandates.
He was nicknamed “Dumpling Dan” and “Dimsum Dan” for signing a secret Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China in 2018 that was later torn up by the federal government and making a shadowy $82,000 visit to Beijing in 2023. He was then a guest at military parade in the Chinese capital in September last year.
Mr Andrews is also on the payroll of influential cardboard billionaire and major uniparty donor Anthony Pratt.
Header image: Left, right, Dan Andrews in parliament (supplied).
The post Daniels Andrews makes first public appearance since mystery illness first appeared on The Noticer.
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