Tony Burke’s apology takes au pair heat off Peter Dutton

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has stared down attacks from Labor and the Greens over the au pair controversy.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in parliament yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has stared down attacks from Labor and the Greens over the au pair controversy, as he dismissed new evidence from sacked Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg regarding ­another alleged visa case.

Mr Dutton yesterday refuted claims he had misled the House of Representatives by ruling out any relationship with the au pairs or their intended employers, and ­declaring he had no “personal connection” with a former Queens­land police colleague who appealed to his office for assistance in one of the visa cases.

Labor’s pursuit of the minister fell flat when its chief tactician in the house, Tony Burke, was forced to apologise and acknowledge he had accused Mr Dutton of ­misleading parliament based on a transcript “that had errors in it”. Scott Morrison also threw his support behind Mr Dutton in question time, saying he would not “dismiss” his minister.

Mr Dutton’s interventions in the two foreign au pair matters have come under increasing scrutiny amid claims from Labor and the Greens that he did favours for well-connected mates.

After a request from Labor, Mr Dutton last night tabled an e-mail that former Queensland police colleague Russell Keag wrote to his office after Italian au pair ­Michela Marchisio was detained at Brisbane airport in June 2015 when her tourist visa was cancelled because of suspicions she intended to work.

The minister intervened to allow her entry into Australia but said Mr Keag contacted his office via a publicly available email ­address. “Long-time between calls,” Mr Keag wrote in the email.

He signed off by asking Mr Dutton to “call please if possible for advice re this matter”.

Speaking in parliament yesterday, Mr Dutton said: “To the best of my knowledge I have not socialised, met with or had a personal connection with the man involved. In fact I finished work with the Queensland Police Service in July of 1999. At that time from my recollection there were 5500 police officers within the Queensland Police Service.

“He does not have my personal phone number or my personal email address.”

The Australian understands the Labor-led parliamentary committee looking into Mr Dutton’s use of ministerial powers in the au pair cases will ask the Senate to extend its reporting date until next Wednesday, potentially allowing enough time for Mr Quaedvlieg to give evidence.

In a second submission to the committee, published yesterday, Mr Quaedvlieg conceded his original evidence “may have been honestly mistaken” after he claimed he received a phone call in mid-June 2015 from Mr Dutton’s chief of staff seeking help for “the boss’s mate in Brisbane” regarding Ms Marchisio’s case.

Mr Dutton has said it was “impossible” for the alleged conversation between Mr Quaedvlieg and Mr Maclachlan to have ­occurred at that time because the latter was not employed by him until October 2015.

Mr Quaedvlieg changed his evidence to allege he had a conversation with Mr Maclachlan ­“between October 2015 and the end of calendar year 2016” about a similar au pair visa case.

“It now appears that the records of the department and the ABF, and officers involved in the described chain of inquiry, need to be examined to correlate it to a different Brisbane visa case,” he said.

Mr Dutton challenged his former friend to provide details of the alleged new case.

“Mr Quaedvlieg has lost his credibility and his statement today has no more validity than his fabricated statement from last week,” he said.

Greens MP Adam Bandt will attempt to move a no-confidence motion against Mr Dutton as early as today but does not have the numbers to succeed, with independent MP Bob Katter and new Nationals crossbencher Kevin Hogan vowing to side with the government.

Labor also tried to pressure Mr Dutton over his eligibility under section 44 of the Constitution yesterday but Attorney-General Christian Porter rebuked the ­opposition for its handling of advice about the case.

According to University of Sydney constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey, a family trust that Mr Dutton is a beneficiary of owns two childcare centres in Queensland and since July 2 has allegedly had agreements with the public service to provide childcare ser­vices in exchange for childcare subsidies.

Mr Porter questioned why Labor waited 126 days from receiving advice about Mr Dutton’s eligibility to releasing it.

“If any of us here as members of parliament thought we had information truly critical to the integrity of this parliament, do you think we would sit on it for 126 days?” he said. “Give us a break.’’