The Author
- Nov 21, 2022
- 2 min read

Daniel Andrews

Daniel Andrews is the Premier of Victoria and head of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party. Mr. Andrews has maintained the preferred Premier rating consistently since he was first elected in 2014. Mr. Andrews and his government has received criticism for their handling of lock downs during the COVID-19 Pandemic and a series of anti-corruption probes.

2013 Vehicle Collision with Cyclist

In 2013, a collision took place between a cyclist, Ryan Meuleman, and Mr. Andrews' vehicle which was being driven by his wife, Catherine, at the time of the incident. The collision resulted in Mr. Meuleman suffering a punctured lung, broken ribs and losing 90% of his spleen.

Mr. Meuleman claimed that Mr. Andrews' vehicle was "speeding" and "seemed to come out of nowhere" as he rode his bicycle across Ridley Street in Blairgowrie. Mr. Andrews claimed that Mr. Meuleman was "moving at speed, he absolutely T-boned the car, hit it at such force he was literally inside the car."

The incident was brought back to media attention during the first week of the 2022 Victorian election campaign, with Mr. Meuleman reporting to the media that he was offered an $80,000 payout from the Transport Accident Commission when he turned 18 on the condition of never discussing the crash.

UFU IBAC Investigation

In October of 2021, reports emerged that Victoria’s anti-corruption body, IBAC, has been reviewing the conduct of Mr. Andrews and a senior public servant regarding their role in controversial deals that benefited the United Firefighters Union (UFU) and its boss, Peter Marshall. Opposition leader, Matthew Guy, linked the recent resignation of NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to Mr. Andrews' situation:

“The Premier when in opposition made a habit of calling for people to stand down who are being investigated by IBAC...The Premier in NSW has just stood down for being investigated by an anti-corruption commission. Now [Mr Andrews] is being investigated, and he refuses to stand down. I hope that tells the whole state of Victoria about his state of integrity. Of course he should stand down.”

However, in contrast to the NSW Premier's case, there was no suggestion that Mr. Andrews had not disclosed a personal interest and the state authority body had given no indication that it intended to hold public hearings or was investigating adverse allegations involving Mr. Andrews.