Home affairs minister Peter Dutton says there was nothing wrong with granting a French au pair a visa after his department was preparing to deport her.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Dutton had granted a visa in 2015 to an au pair after a request was made to him by AFL chief Gillon McLachlan.
The woman in question, Alexandra Deuwel, was planning to work for the McLachlan’s second cousin, Callum MacLachlan, whose father has reportedly donated $150,000 to the Liberal party over the past two decades.
In emails leaked to Labor senator Kimberley Kitching and provided to several news outlets including BuzzFeed News on Thursday, MacLachlan wrote to his second cousin pleading to him for help to get the then 27-year-old French national to stay in Australia.
The email was eventually forwarded to Dutton's chief of staff, who was informed that the au pair would only be conducting "volunteer work" in Australia.
The emails reveal the au pair had been in Australia for three years on a variety of visas including a working holiday visa, a student visa, and a visitor visa, and upon leaving the country earlier that month, was counselled by border officials about her work rights while on a tourist visa.
The emails revealed that the "volunteer work" the woman was going to do included looking after the MacLachlan kids, in return she would be given free accommodation.
The emails show that Dutton wanted Deuwel "strongly counselled" that she could not work or even volunteer during her trip or she would have her visa cancelled.
Dutton was advised by Clive Murray, the assistant commissioner of the Strategic Border Command Centre, that the department was opposed to the minister intervening, and that at that point any decision to grant the woman a visa would come at a cost to the department because a flight out of Australia had already been arranged for the woman.
Dutton ultimately granted the visa.
Earlier this year it was reported that Dutton had granted visas for two other au pairs, also in 2015, and his department has since spent over $10,000 seeking to suppress details of the cases being released under Freedom of Information law.
The cases are now the subject of a Senate inquiry, of which Kitching is a member. Kitching said in a statement that the whole affair is "as dodgy as it gets".
"Why did Dutton act against Border Force advice? Why did he expose the Australian taxpayer to this financial risk?"
Dutton has said his actions were all above board. In an interview on 2GB radio on Thursday, Dutton said he deals with hundreds of cases such as this each year.
"You look at the particular circumstances ... the au pair is the flowery language used, it's complete nonsense," he said. "You've got a young girl being detained in one of the immigration areas ... or cells there and was to be turned around on the plane. I had a look at the case and I made a judgement on the merit of the case.
"I looked at it and thought, 'It's a bit rough, there's no criminal history'."
Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Dutton had to explain why he overruled his department. Shorten also, unfortunately, managed to kill a meme by suggesting most Australians want to know what's the go with the au pairs.
.@billshortenmp on the au pairs: Everyday there is something new. Australians are asking what is the go. @ScottMorrisonMP cannot hide anymore on this issue. MORE: https://t.co/QHwO9ryn2Y #newsday https://t.co/MKbufnsnfI
Dutton argued that of course his decision went against the advice of the department because the department initially denied her a visa and wouldn't go against its own original decision.
Dutton claimed the interest in the story was from his "enemies in the media" who were "getting square" over "recent events".
Dutton last week failed in his challenge against Malcolm Turnbull to become prime minister of Australia, instead losing a leadership ballot to new prime minister Scott Morrison.
New immigration minister David Coleman is being asked to grant a visa to former US soldier turned Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is due to visit Australia this weekend but has been told she may not be granted a visa on character grounds.