Peter Dutton suggests au pair affair is payback

Home Affairs Minister suggests revenge over a series of damaging leaks, revealing Labor MPs asked him to intervene on visas.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

Embattled Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has fired back in the au pair affair, revealing senior Labor MPs had privately urged him to intervene on visa cases “hundreds of times,” according to a report.

Mr Dutton, who retained his portfolio in the wake of a failed leadership challenge that saw Malcolm Turnbull quit the prime ministership and parliament in the space of a week, has been hit with a series of damaging leaks over his intervention to allow two European au pairs entry into Australia against the advice of his own department.

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In an interview with Queensland’s Courier-Mail, Mr Dutton suggested the scandal was revenge for his tilt at the top job, revealing he had been lobbied more than 900 times by MPs and senators to use his ministerial powers, including by Labor frontbenchers.

“I have helped sick children, people with disabilities, aged parents and many other cases – all where the Department has advised me not to act,” he was quoted as saying.

Mr Dutton, who denies wrongdoing, has been accused of hypocrisy by Labor, and was roasted by Opposition leader Bill Shorten on Saturday in an address to the Queensland state Labor conference.

French au pair Alexandra Deuwel was saved from deportation by Mr Dutton.

“I mean seriously, what is the go with the au pairs?” he quipped. “Who would have thought such an arch-conservative, inspiration to the Institute of Public Affairs, was secretly working towards a nanny state?”

The Senate referred the matter for inquiry on August 23, with a final report due by September 11.

In her submission to the inquiry on the matter, registered migration agent of 18 years Helen Duncan singled out the failed ministerial intervention plea of a Vietnamese family who had lived, worked and studied in Australia for a decade. “It seemed so unfair to me that the minister did not deem it in the interests of Australia to let them stay,” Ms Duncan said.

“They would have made ideal Australians. However they were people without any higher level connections.” Ms Duncan acknowledged that Mr Dutton receives hundreds of requests each year, but stressed such powers should be applied with integrity.

“In my experience I believe that it is often a case of who the applicant knows that decides the outcome, rather than the merits of the application,” she said. “This appears to be the case with the au pairs who were granted visitor visas despite an assessment by the immigration official at the airport, that they intended to work in breach of the conditions on their visa.” Australians had until August 31 to send in submissions for the inquiry run by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee.

- with AAP