The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, saved an au pair from deportation, intervening after the AFL’s chief executive officer, Gillon McLachlan, raised the young woman’s case.

Guardian Australia understands that a French woman named Alexandra Deuwel was detained at Adelaide’s international airport late on 31 October 2015.

Her tourist visa was cancelled at the border because there were suspicions she intended to work and she had previously been counselled over visa conditions during an earlier stay in Australia.

Deuwel had previously worked for McLachlan’s relatives Callum and Skye MacLachlan in South Australia and was returning to visit them. Callum MacLachlan is joint managing director of the cattle and sheep company Jumbuck Pastoral.

An AFL official, who works for Gillon McLachlan, is understood to have contacted Dutton’s chief of staff, Craig Maclachlan, on behalf of Callum regarding the former au pair’s situation. Although related to Gillon McLachlan, Callum’s side of the family spells its name differently. Craig Maclachlan is not related to either Callum or Gillon.

On the eve of a ministerial visit to Zaatari, a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, Dutton was alerted to the case, by Craig Maclachlan. He used his discretion powers under the Migration Act to grant the young woman a tourist visa on public interest grounds within 24 hours of her arrival. The visa was granted on the condition she undertake no paid work.

In freedom of information documents released on Tuesday to the ABC, Dutton gives his reason for Deuwel’s visa allowance.

“Having regard to this person’s particular circumstances and personal characteristics, I have decided to exercise my discretionary powers under section 195A of the (migration) act as it would be in the public interest to grant this person a visa.

“In the circumstances, I have decided, that as a discretionary and humanitarian act to an individual, with ongoing needs it is in the interests of Australia as a humane and generous society to grant this person a visitor visa (subclass 600) for a period of three months.”

Deuwel’s Facebook profile says she graduated from Tafe SA in 2015 and has since set up her own yoga teaching business in France.

Her social media posts show she had been spending time in Australia on and off since 2012 in between return trips to France and holidays to Bali.

On Tuesday afternoon Dutton said: “Ministers for Immigration receive, annually, hundreds of representations on individual migration matters from members of the public, organisations, journalists and other Members of Parliament.

“There are long standing intervention powers provided to Ministers to consider and deal with these representations. These powers were the same under the former Labor Government.

“I consider cases on their merits. Any suggestions cases are determined on any other basis, including whether I knew the individual who referred the matter, is completely ridiculous.”

A spokesman for the AFL chief executive said: “It’s not his au pair. He’s got no comment.”

Asked about the au pair potentially working for McLachlan’s relatives, the spokesman said: “No comment.”

A Senate inquiry is investigating the au pair visa saga and is due to report back to parliament on 11 September. The investigation was prompted by media reports in March this year that Dutton had intervened in two au pair visa cases at Brisbane’s international airport in June and November 2015.

Dutton later responded to those reports saying: “The decision that was taken … that those two young tourists would be detained and that they would be deported. I looked into the circumstances of those two cases and I thought that inappropriate.”

It is not known whether the case of Alexandra Deuwel is the third such case having entered Australia via Adelaide on 31 October, 2015.

Labor’s shadow minister for immigration and border control, Shayne Neumann, said Dutton had questions to answer.

“Labor expects the new prime minister Scott Morrison to ensure his minister fully cooperates with the Senate inquiry and its efforts to get to the bottom of these matters,” he said.

But the new treasurer and Dutton colleague, Josh Frydenberg, told ABC Radio: “There’s obviously going be continuous muck racking by those opposite, if they want to play the man not the ball it’s going to be to their disadvantage.

“He’s been an outstanding and successful home affairs minister and that’s why he’s continuing in the role.”

A former department official said what horrified frontline airport personnel most about the au pair cases was that their decisions were being “overruled so quickly and at such a senior level for such a trivial matter”.

Dutton contested the Liberal leadership for a second time on Friday but lost out to Scott Morrison, who has replaced Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. He retained his home affairs ministerial role in the Morrison government but has lost responsibilities for immigration.

The former police officer was sports minister from September 2013 to December 2014. He attended the AFL grand finals in 2013 and 2014 and the North Melbourne grand final breakfasts both years, according to his register of interests in the previous parliament.

Deuwel has been contacted for comment along with Callum MacLachlan.

• On 28 August 2018 this article was amended. A previous version said it was not known whether Craig Maclachlan was related to relatives of Gillon McLachlan. Peter Dutton’s office has since said they are not related.