AFL boss Gil McLachlan denies he received special treatment after lobbying Peter Dutton to overturn the deportation of a French au pair.
And Mr Dutton is standing by his "common sense" decision to let the woman stay, despite high-ranking border force officers warning him against it.
Mr McLachlan insists his only role in the 2015 incident was forwarding onto the then-immigration minister's office an email from his cousin.
"All I was doing was actually trying to help facilitate the contact, not make a representation," he told 3AW radio on Friday.
"I feel it was reasonable to have done so, others can make their assessments."
Alexandra Deuwel was detained at Adelaide airport in October 2015 after admitting she intended to work in breach of her tourist visa for grazier Callum MacLachlan, the AFL boss' second cousin.
Leaked documents show Mr MacLachlan contacted Gil McLachlan, who directed an AFL staffer to forward an email from his cousin onto Mr Dutton's chief-of-staff.
Mr Dutton overruled the advice of senior immigration authorities and allowed the woman to stay.
"That's the whole reason for ministerial intervention, because you believe the department has made a decision that is not right," the minister told 2GB radio.
Mr McLachlan denies he got special treatment because of his public profile.
However, Mr McLachlan acknowledges there is a waft of "mates helping mates" surrounding the incident.
"I can see that in the way it's playing out because of the political context," he said.
Mr McLachlan said he had never met the French au pair at the centre of the controversy, and didn't know Mr Dutton that well.
Mr Dutton also saved from deportation an Italian au pair who was apparently planning to work for a former Queensland police colleague.
"I wouldn't have spoken to that individual in 20 years and I didn't speak to him in relation to this matter. He raised it with my office," the minister said.
However, this professional connection appears to contradict what Mr Dutton told parliament earlier this year.
The minister was asked to rule out any personal connection or any other relationship between himself and the intended employer of the Italian woman and a third au pair.
"The answer is yes," Mr Dutton told parliament on March 27.
Greens senator Nick McKim said there were serious questions for the minister over whether he misled parliament.
Radio host Alan Jones asked Mr Dutton if somebody was "getting square" by leaking details of the au pairs.
"I suspect all will be revealed at some stage," Mr Dutton replied.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would consider "any issues of substance" in relation to Mr Dutton's decisions.
"But there are none such before me," he told reporters in Jakarta, adding he had full confidence in the minister.
The au pair visa issue will be examined by a Senate inquiry due to hear evidence from department officials next week.
Opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann said the public would be stunned by the "troubling pattern" of interventions.
"I think the Australian public would've expected in relation to both of these au pairs that they'd be put back on a plan and deported," he told Sky News.
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