Peter Dutton did not receive any specific advice from his department before claiming Melbourne residents were afraid to dine out at night for fear of African gangs.
Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said he provided the minister with information about patterns of crime, but not about eating at restaurants in Melbourne.
"Not in relation to threats to dining, no. I took that to be a figure of speech by the minister," Mr Pezzullo told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.
"He was seeking to highlight the apprehension that people in Melbourne have in relation to certain violent crimes."
Greens senator Richard Di Natale took umbrage at the suggestion Mr Dutton was using a figure of speech, saying groups of people affected had taken the minister's January comments literally.
"It had a significant impact on those communities," Senator Di Natale said.
Cabinet minister Mitch Fifield, representing Mr Dutton at the public hearing, said the minister was making an "entirely unremarkable" observation.
"There is concern in Victoria about the incidence of gang crime," Senator Fifield said.
"Melburnians do pause as they go about their activities because they have in mind ... that there is anti-social and on occasion violent behaviour. That does cause citizens pause for thought."
