Dan Andrews has been spotted publicly for the first time in months.

The former Victorian premier made a rare appearance at state parliament as Labor MP Emma Vulin delivered her valedictory speech on Wednesday.

Vulin has previously worked in Andrews’ Mulgrave electorate office and will retire in November after she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2024.

She was able to deliver her speech through a text-to-speech program and thanked Andrews and his successor Jacinta Allan.

Vulin said she would retire with ‘enormous gratitude, immense pride’ and a ‘heavy heart’.

A photograph of Andrews showed the former premier maintaining a sombre expression as he sat in the stalls while he listened to Vulin.

He wore a blue suit with the top of his shirt unbuttoned.  

Andrews is understood to have been working behind the scenes in the last week to shore up support for Allan as she faces a potential leadership challenge.

Dan Andrews has been spotted publicly for the first time in months

His appearance in parliament comes as sightings of the former premier remain scarce as he grapples with defamation action and reports of a health scare.

Ryan Meuleman is suing Andrews in the Federal Court over public comments the former premier has since made about a crash that happened in 2013.   

Meuleman became known as ‘Bike Boy’ after he suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a vehicle carrying Andrews and his wife. 

In court documents, Meuleman claimed Andrews’ statements caused him ‘substantial hurt, distress and embarrassment’.

Andrews has denied the allegations and accused Meuleman of bringing the case to attract publicity rather than to vindicate his reputation or obtain compensation for injured feelings in a 27-page defence. 

In February, it emerged that Andrews had been taken to Monash Clayton Hospital in Melbourne’s south-east just before Christmas.  

Details of Andrews’ condition and treatment have been kept a state secret, although it is believed he suffered a stroke and it was reported he had been in a ‘very bad way’.

Sources claimed his health has since improved. 

The former Victorian premier made a rare appearance at state parliament as Labor MP Emma Vulin delivered her valedictory speech on Wednesday

A senior insider compared the information blackout to the levels of secrecy around world champion F1 driver Michael Schumacher after his traumatic skiing accident.

Andrews suffered a serious back injury during the height of the Covid pandemic in March 2021.

While on a family holiday on the Mornington Peninsula, he suffered a nasty fall on slippery wooden stairs, resulting in a severe spinal injury that required hospitalisation, X-rays, and a lengthy recovery involving a spinal brace and gradual walking rehabilitation.

The incident sparked wild conspiracy theories at the time, but Andrews later confirmed it was simply an unfortunate accident which left him in significant pain.

In May, Andrews sparked backlash after it was revealed a bronze statue of the former premier would be erected in central Melbourne at a cost of $134,000. 

Bronze statues of premiers who spent more than 3,000 days in office are immortalised outside government offices near Treasury Gardens, under a rule introduced by former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett.

Andrews led Victoria through some of its toughest moments and never stopped fighting for working people, a Victorian government spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

Meridian Sculpture has been selected to carry out the project, having erected statues of four long-serving Victorian premiers, and others including music industry figure Michael Gudinski.

Vulin has previously worked in Andrews’ Mulgrave electorate office and will retire in November after she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2024

The selection process followed standard Victorian government procurement rules and the total cost of the statue will be $134,304, the government said.

Work is already underway, with installation details to be finalised closer to completion.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson accused the Labor government of ‘taking out the trash’ as they knew it would not pass the ‘pub test’ during a cost-of-living crisis.

‘This is a premier… who has basically bankrupted the state and I don’t think we should be spending any more money on a statue,’ she said. 

Wilson added: ‘We simply cannot afford it.’