Susie O’Brien: Dutton denials don’t pass the sniff test

PETER Dutton’s au pair rulings might not be illegal but they certainly don’t pass the sniff test, writes Susie O’Brien.

PETER Dutton’s reinstatement of the visas of two European au pairs back in 2015 doesn’t pass the sniff test. In fact, it really stinks.

Dutton insists his snap decisions to grant visa exemptions to Alexandra Deuwel and Michela Marchisio are not unusual because he grants visa exemptions all the time. But they are different because they came from Dutton’s high-powered connections and a former work colleague.

Don’t be fooled by Dutton’s recent reassurances; these are not run-of-the-mill visa issues involving a sick kid needing medical treatment or a stranded aged family member.

MORE: DUTTON INTERVENED TO STOP AU PAIR DEPORTATION

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Peter Dutton. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

While asylum seekers wait years for immigration decisions to be made, and kids rot away on Nauru, Dutton turned his immediate attention to the plight of Deuwel and Marchisio.

There was no urgency, no security concerns, no illness and no one was in danger. And yet their cases were addressed immediately by Dutton.

If you’re a Pakistani refugee, it might take 12 months for your visa review to be processed, but it’s different if you’re a well-connected young white European au pair.

It shows there is one set of rules for the rich and well-connected, another for the rest of us. Marchisio was due to work for Dutton’s former colleague, Russell Keag. Deuwel was due to work for Callum MacLachlan, the son of a Liberal Party donor and cousin to AFL boss Gillon McLachlan.

Leaked emails in the MacLachlan case clearly show how people from the top end of town get things done.

When Deuwel was about to be deported from Adelaide, she contacted MacLachlan who rang his cousin, Gillon McLachlan.

McLachlan (same family, different spelling) told MacLachlan to send an email, which he did.

“There has clearly been a misunderstanding that she was intending to work for us when she was here to spend time with our family, as we consider her to be family,” he wrote.

Dutton granted a visa exemption to Alexandra Deuwel. Source: Facebook

He described the deportation as “an injustice”. That is despite the fact that Deuwel had already been counselled about working on a tourist visa and told officials she was going to care for the children and cook meals, which is considered working. She didn’t consider herself “family”.

McLachlan sent the email to his then head of government relations, Jude Donnelly, who passed it on to Dutton’s chief of staff, who acted immediately.

Phone calls were made and up to 14 pages of emails were exchanged, and within hours, Deuwel was let into the country as long as she promised not to work.

Dutton says such cases are handled in a “carefully and in a considered way” but rarely are they made at such a senior level or so quickly. It’s also rare for the minister to intervene in a tourist visa case.

Dutton also acted against the advice of the assistant commissioner of the Strategic Border Command, Clive Murray.

“There are clear indications that (Deuwel) is intending to work in Australia and thus, the grant of a visitor visa is of high risk,” Murray wrote.

This was because Deuwel was previously counselled by Border Force officers in May 2015 about breaching the conditions of her visa.

Dutton says it was in the “public interest” to allow Deuwel to stay for three months. He says it was in the “interests of Australia as a humane and generous society”.

I am sure it was in the interests of the MacLachlan family, but it’s hard to see any wider benefit.

DUTTON’S treatment of asylum seekers on Nauru, and the Coalition’s continued detainment of more than 100 children on the island, are not generous or humane. So why was he so concerned about one French au pair that overturning her deportation was the last thing he did before flying out to a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan?

Why do ordinary people who’ve been denied access to our country have to go through the courts or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal while this woman received his immediate attention?

Dutton was ruthless as immigration minister and yet he was willing to accept Deuwel’s word that she wouldn’t work. “She’s agreed that she wouldn’t work while she was here,” he told 2GB radio. It doesn’t stack up.

Although not as much detail is known about the other case, Dutton used to work with Keag when he was in the Queensland Police Service in the late 1990s.

This is despite the fact that Dutton told parliament that he did not “personally know the individuals concerned”.

Not only that, he went on to say they have “never been associated with us in any way”. This is not true.

Dutton may not legally have done anything wrong, but it leaves the distinct impression that he was using his power to take care of his mates. Let’s hope we get some more answers from the Senate inquiry due to report next week.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist

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