Peter Dutton: Roman Quaedvlieg au pair claims ‘false, fabricated’

A high-stakes feud between Peter Dutton and his former Border Force chief is being played out over the use of ministerial powers.

Roman Quaedvlieg, sacked ABF Commissioner during a Senate estimates hearing at Parliament House. Picture: Kym Smith.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says allegations from sacked Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg regarding an au pair visa case are “entirely false and indeed fabricated”.

Mr Dutton has also asked ABF commissioner Michael Outram to offer Mr Quaedvlieg support to address any “personal or mental health issues”.

It comes after Mr Quaedvlieg wrote to the Labor chair of the Senate committee looking into Mr Dutton’s use of ministerial powers in two au pair visa cases and claimed he had received a phone call from the Minister’s chief-of-staff, Craig Maclachlan, seeking help for “the boss’s mate in Brisbane” after one of the au pair’s was detained.

This evening, Mr Quaedvlieg rejected that he had fabricated evidence.

“I am ... adamant in that they occurred. I completely reject his (Dutton’s) assertion that I have fabricated evidence,” he said.

“I urge Mr Dutton to desist from personal attacks and casting aspersions over my actions, motivation, integrity, reputation and mental health.”

Italian woman Michela Marchisio was detained at Brisbane airport in June 2015 after her tourist visa was cancelled amid suspicions she intended to work, but Mr Dutton intervened to allow her entry into Australia following representation from one of his former Queensland police colleagues, Russell Keag.

Mr Dutton has repeatedly said he has not spoken Mr Keag for 20 years.

Mr Dutton said it was “impossible” for the alleged conversation between Mr Quaedvlieg and Mr Maclachlan to have occurred in mid-June 2015.

Read Dutton’s statement here:

“Mr Maclachlan was not employed by me at that time and didn’t join my staff until 7 October 2015. Equally, it is impossible for Mr Maclachlan to have had any knowledge of the matter, at that time, because he was not even employed by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection,” Mr Dutton said.

“Moreover, I did not instruct any member of my staff to call Mr Quaedvlieg in relation to this matter. Nor did any member of my staff speak to Mr Quaedvlieg about it.”:

Mr Quaedvlieg said he did not intend “to debate the facts of this matter through the media as Dutton has chosen to do. I will instead correspond with the properly constituted Committee in an attempt to reconcile the anomaly his statement identifies with the date of the events as I have described in my letter.”

“I stand very firmly by the description of the events as I have recollected and outlined in my submission. I will attempt to correlate them to the date of the ‘Brisbane Case’ or alternatively to another Brisbane case which occurred at a later date and which may not yet be in the public domain, however I will do so through the Committee process.”

Mr Dutton said Mr Quaedvlieg, who he appointed as the first ABF commissioner in 2015, was “bitter” about losing his job earlier this year.

“It is has been concerning to hear allegations about Mr Quaedvlieg’s engagement with the media and Labor over a long period of time. But the fabrication of evidence to a Senate committee takes his behaviour to a disturbing level,” Mr Dutton said.

“The fact is Mr Quaedvlieg has been under enormous pressure since the commencement of the investigation by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity which resulted in his termination as the Australian Border Force Commissioner for misconduct. As is a matter of public record, Mr Quaedvlieg remains under criminal investigation by ACLEI and another person related to this matter is subject to charges.

“I can only assume that the pressure and personal toll of these investigations have resulted in Mr Quaedvlieg making an enormous error in judgment by submitting false evidence to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee.

“It is for these reasons, I have asked ABF Commissioner Mr Michael Outram to offer Mr Quaedvlieg any support to address his personal or mental health issues.”

Mr Dutton said the “false and preposterous claims” were a “complete violation of the privacy of the individuals involved” and it was up to the Senate whether Mr Quaedvlieg had breached any rules by providing “false” evidence to the committee.

Mr Quaedvlieg said he was “bemused” at Mr Dutton’s “emotive statement today in response to the contents of a submission I made under parliamentary privilege to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee”.

“I anticipated he may have reacted in this manner. He would serve and respect the system of parliamentary democracy much better if he engaged with its mechanisms through civil discourse and through the appropriate medium,” he said.

Read Quaedvlieg’s letter to the committee here:

Mr Quaedvlieg’s explosive letter was sent to Labor senator Louise Pratt, who heads the committee, in the wake of yesterday’s hearing to dispute claims made about Mr Dutton’s intervention in the case.

Earlier today, Mr Dutton said the identity of a “disaffected former, senior Australian Border Force officer” who has been leaking against him would be exposed.

“There’s a disaffected former, senior Australian Border Force officer who leaks this information out,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio before news of Mr Quaedvlieg’s letter broke.

“Good luck to him if that’s what he wants to do, he’s obviously very close to the Labor Party and there are links into Mr (Bill) Shorten, all of that will come out no doubt at some point but I just think people need to look at the facts and establish what has gone wrong here.”

The Opposition Leader’s spokesman said he did not recall ever speaking to Mr Quaedvlieg.

“Though I gather Mr Quaedvlieg and Mr Dutton know each other well,” the spokesman said.

Mr Dutton appointed Mr Quaedvlieg as head of the ABF in 2015 but he was sacked in March for misbehaviour.

Greens MP Adam Bandt has accused Mr Dutton of misleading parliament after he categorically ruled out any personal connection or relationship between himself and the intended employers of both the au pairs.

“The answer is yes,” Mr Dutton told the House of Representatives. “I haven’t received any personal benefit. I don’t know these people. They haven’t worked for me. They haven’t worked for my wife.”

French woman Alexandra Deuwel was detained at an Adelaide airport in October 2015 but was allowed entry into Australian following an intervention from Mr Dutton and an appeal from AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, whose second cousin Callum MacLachlan had asked for his help.

“Smoking gun doesn’t exist”

Mr Dutton said the Greens and Labor were “looking for a smoking gun which doesn’t exist” and the Senate inquiry into his use of ministerial discretion in the au pair cases was “a waste of taxpayers’ money”.

“I’d be happy to have every one of my decisions compared to the decisions of the Labor ministers and, as you say, (opposition immigration spokesman) Shayne Neumann who would be the border protection minister, the home affairs minister in a Shorten government, has been advocating for somebody who’s committed murder, his criminal activities span four decades and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr Dutton said.

“I’d love to see whether the CFMEU made any approaches to Labor when they were in government about visas or whether somebody rang up their office to see where a visa was up to, whether it’s been processed or not. Seriously get onto some issues that actually matter to people.”

Opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann declared Mr Dutton had “clearly misled” parliament following the “explosive revelations” in Mr Quaedvlieg’s letter.

“The new reports clearly show that Peter Dutton knew the employer of the Brisbane au pair — it was his mate — and Peter Dutton used his ministerial intervention powers to grant a tourist visa to the au pair,” Mr Neumann said.

“Misleading the House of Representatives is a serious and sackable offence. Prime Minister Scott Morrison must demand an explanation today of Minister Peter Dutton. If Peter Dutton won’t explain himself today, his position becomes untenable.”