Senators investigate Dutton's au pair saga

A Senate inquiry has revealed AFL boss Gillon McLachlan contacted the highest levels of government over an Argentine polo player's visa application.

KEY POINTS FROM THE AU PAIRS INQUIRY

* AFL boss Gillon McLachlan sought information on behalf of a friend about an Argentine polo player's application for a business visa in 2014.

* McLachlan said the visa had already been approved when the AFL's head of government relations and former Liberal staffer Jude Donnelly contacted a former colleague in then prime minister Tony Abbott's office over the matter.

* McLachlan didn't think his involvement in lobbying Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in the 2015 case of a French au pair who worked for his second cousin would change the outcome.

* The au pair was saved from deportation.

* McLachlan said he had met Dutton about six times. He described their relationship as normal for any minister on either side of politics.

* The leaking of emails about Dutton's intervention in the French au pair case has been referred to the federal police.

* Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said the department would never put Dutton in a position to act unlawfully.

* Migration agent Eve Watts recalled two of her six applications for ministerial intervention had succeeded. Both were linked to Liberal MPs.


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Published 5 September 2018 5:12pm
Source: AAP


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