As the tussle for Australia’s top job drags on between current prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and the former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, another story has been simmering away.
In March, it was revealed Dutton used his powers of ministerial discretion to grant two au pairs visas on public interest grounds. The Australian government has spent more than $10,000 in taxpayer cash fighting a legal battle to keep documents relating to the issue secret.
Update: Dutton saved a third au pair from deportation, intervening after the AFL chief executive officer Gillon McLachlan raised the young woman’s case, Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday.
Give. Me. The. Au Pair. Story.
In June 2015 an au pair whose visa was cancelled at Brisbane Airport made a phone call and within hours a new visa was approved; in November that year, Dutton granted a visa to a second au pair.
Dutton has insisted he doesn’t know the two au pairs and that they do not work for his family.
On Thursday morning the Labor party announced it was pushing for a Senate inquiry into the issue.
Here are a few tweets from Australians who want to know what the deal is.
1.
GENIE: You have three wishes. ME: 1. What's the go with the au pair story? 2. What's the deal with the au pair yarn? 3. Seriously, what's the go with the au pairs?
2.
[Parliament House] Me: [chanting] au pairs, au pairs- Press gallery: au pairs, AU PAIRS Moderate Liberal MPs: [pounding their clipboards] AU PAIRS, AU PAIRS, AU PAIRS!
3.
Peter Dutton as the bachelor but the contestants are au pairs and instead of roses they get visas
4.
*play school voice* 🎶 there’s au pair in there 🎶
5.
*playing poker with Peter Dutton* Dutton: You're bluffing. Me: Am I... Dutton: You wouldn't.... Me, calmly flipping my cards to reveal 😎😎😎 two au pairs
6.
How about a royal commission into... those au pairs?
7.
Binders full of Au Pairs
8.
Maybe Dutton’s secret au pairs are daughters of white South African farmers?
9.
whooa we're halfway there whats up with those au pairs
10.
What is the deal with the au pairs?!
11.
Spoonerism of au pair is poe air, a clear reference to Nicholas Cage's character Cameron Poe in the film ConAir. I think Dutton is planning to bust a bunch of criminals out of a prison transport plane.
12.
did dutton eat the au pairs
13.
SOCRATES: The rulers, being aware that their power rests upon their wealth, refuse to curtail by law the extravagance of the spendthrift youth because they gain by their ruin... ADEIMANTUS: Yes but the au pairs, Socrates, what's the go with them
14.
#Qanda After five years, kids are trying to kill themselves. Should they identify as au pairs to get off Nauru?
15.
really nice afternoon to wonder about who employed the au pairs
16.
god i desperately want to know the hellacious (and almost certainly disgusting) reason as to why dutton intervened with those au pairs!!!!
17.
Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as 🎶au pairs🎶