AFL boss Gillon McLachlan helped an Argentinian polo player secure a visa as a favour

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan helped an Argentinian polo player secure a visa as a favour – before saving friend’s French au pair from deportation

• He revealed the latest intervention at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday
• He said he asked a colleague to check in on a visa application for the polo player
• The colleague contacted the prime minister’s office to be told it was approved
• The AFL chief also appealed to the government over the visa of a French au pair

By Charlie Coe For Daily Mail Australia and Aap

Published: 12:53 BST, 5 September 2018 | Updated: 13:20 BST, 5 September 2018

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has revealed he helped secure an Argentinian polo player’s visa application who was a ‘friend of a friend’, before saving a French au pair who worked for his second cousin Callum McLachlan.

The AFL head is giving evidence to a Senate committee over lobbying Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to save au pair Alexandre Deuwel. 

He told the inquiry on Wednesday he asked the AFL’s head of government relations Jude Donnelly – a former Liberal staffer – to check on a business visa application for the polo player in 2014.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has revealed he helped secure a visa application for an Argentinian polo player who was a ‘friend of a friend’

McLachlan saved French au pair Alexandra Deuwel (pictured), who worked for his second cousin Callum McLachlan. He referred the case to Peter Dutton who overturned deportation

Callum McLachlan contacted his relative, who directed Ms Donnelly to forward an email from him to the minister’s chief-of-staff.

Ms Donnelly said she asked a former colleague in then Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office about the status of the application and was told it had already been approved and was being processed.

The AFL boss said: ‘I was contacted by someone who was waiting on a business visa, a friend of a friend, who was wanting to come into the country who had language issues. 

‘I asked Ms Donnelly to understand whether the visa had been approved or not.’

Ms Donnelly’s request was made when Scott Morrison was immigration minister – but Mr Morrison said he had no recollection of the matter.

In a separate case revealed by leaked secret documents and emails, French woman Alexandra Deuwel was detained at Adelaide airport in October 2015 after admitting she intended to work in breach of her tourist visa for the AFL boss’ second cousin.

Mr Dutton then overturned departmental advice, allowing Ms Deuwel to stay in the country on a tourist visa. 

Mr McLachlan told the inquiry on Wednesday he asked the AFL’s head of government relations Jude Donnelly (right) – a former Liberal staffer – to check on a business visa application for the polo player in 2014.

The Department of Home Affairs has referred the leak to the Australian Federal Police.  

The Home Affair minister, who has stepped in to make visitor visa decisions just 25 times, told reporters he had received 9000 requests for intervention on visa matters from MPs and senators alone.

Migration agent Eve Watts also appeared at Wednesday’s inquiry, revealing she struggled to see any public interest in granting the foreign au pairs a visa.

The intervention was revealed by Mr McLachlan at a Senate committee hearing over lobbying Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) to save au pair Alexandre Deuwel

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