Emails provided to a Senate inquiry on Wednesday show the then-immigration minister's office asked the department to quickly prepare a ministerial intervention briefing for the woman, who was to be deported that night after officers found she planned to work while on a tourist visa.

Mr Dutton says the inquiry is politically motivated and will likely find him to be a "bad person."

"It will be a political report with political recommendations," he said.

The minister told reporters on Wednesday thousands of cases were dealt with every year, and he looks at matters on their merit.

The email was sent from Mr Dutton's departmental liaison officer to the immigration department at 6:30pm on June 17, 2015.

"This is urgent. The minister requires this submission tonight (preferably in the next hour as he has an appointment at 7.30pm)," the email said.

The intervention briefing was prepared and the woman was given a visa and released from detention that night.

The emails also show a conversation between Italian au pair Michela Marchisio and someone in Australia offering to help her find babysitting work for a "bit of cash to fund fun".

Mr Dutton told parliament he did not know the people who Ms Marchisio was planning to work for.

It was later revealed her intended employer was an old Queensland Police colleague of Mr Dutton's, Russell Keag, who emailed his office to say it had been a "long time between calls" but he needed help.

Mr Dutton said he had not spoken to Mr Keag in 20 years before he was approached for help with the visa.

The emails also show the department expressly disagreed with Mr Dutton's push to give a visa to another au pair detained in Adelaide in November 2015.

Mr Dutton pushed ahead with it anyway and his ministerial decision had to be backdated after he missed signing it in time.

On Wednesday, he again defended his handling of both cases.

"The two instances ... don't deviate from normal practice," he said.

Australian Associated Press