Victorian Premier Dan Andrews refuses to answer questions over 2013 Mornington crash

The Victorian Premier has been grilled by the media after fresh claims over a 2013 accident that seriously injured a 15-year-old boy were aired.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has batted away more than 15 questions from reporters over a 2013 car accident that nearly killed a 15-year-old boy.

Mr Andrews, then opposition leader, was in the family Ford Territory being driven by his wife Catherine when it and a bike being ridden by Ryan Meuleman collided. He suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, internal bleeding and was left with 10 per cent of his spleen.

The Herald Sun reported on Thursday morning that Mr Meuleman, now 24, had engaged lawyers over the crash and disputed the accounts given by Mr Andrews and his wife, saying the car was “speeding” and “came out of nowhere”.

The crash, which occurred in January in Blairgowrie, in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, resulted in Mr Meuleman spending 11 days in hospital.

Dan Andrews and his wife Catherine were involved in a 2013 crash with a 15-year-old boy on his bike. Picture Jay Town

In a press conference on Thursday, Mr Andrews endured a barrage of questions from reporters over Mr Meuleman’s fresh claims, but the Premier would not be drawn on any of them.

“I’ve got nothing further to say,” Mr Andrews said.

He said he had gone through the event “in great detail” in 2017 when Mr Andrews said Mr Meuleman’s bike thumped into the side of their car.

“He was moving at speed, he absolutely T-boned the car, hit it at such force he was literally inside the car … He flew up over the car and hit the road,” Mr Andrews said in 2017.

Ms Andrews wasn’t breathalysed after the crash, and Mr Meuleman wasn’t given the opportunity to give a statement to police.

Ryan Meuleman disputes the Premier’s account of the crash. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Mr Andrews had nothing else to say. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

On Thursday, Mr Andrews denied that the story’s re-emergence was the reason his wife wasn’t in attendance on what was the second day of the election campaign, having been with her husband earlier in the week.

“She’s got a day job – she’s working,” Mr Andrews said.

Mr Meuleman told The Herald Sun he suffered from substance abuse problems as a consequence of the crash and said he was warned never to talk about the incident.

In 2017, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission investigated the police response to the crash, including the failure not to use a breathalyser after the crash.

Mr Meuleman was paid $80,000 by the Transport Accident Commission after the accident, but The Herald Sun said the family had “concerns” over the process.

He also told The Herald Sun that police documents obtained under freedom of information were in the possession of the family but said they were unable to make them public.

Originally published as Victorian Premier Dan Andrews refuses to answer questions over 2013 Mornington crash