The article which led to Balson's arrest (italicised in red)
Source: @notd 27th July 1999
Three Labor heavyweights have allegedly used their political contacts to acquire a substantial stake in the lucrative new Internet gambling industry. The plan was apparently hatched through one's close links with the Ipswich City Council's Global info-Links project (the development of which I co-ordinated in 1994). The only Labor "outsider" is a wealthy MP based at Woodridge south of Brisbane.
The three, Labor MP Bill D'Arcy, former Ipswich West MP Don Livingstone and Ipswich City Councillor Paul Pisasale are set to make Au$40 million over their latest venture - with practically no investment.
They are shareholders in the company Navari Pty Ltd which holds a 20% stake in the issued capital of the on-line gambling business called Gocorp. Their stake could be worth Au$40 million when Gocorp is floated following the granting of a special conditional licence for on-line gambling by Labor's State Treasurer David Hamill, the MP for Ipswich.
Gocorp's web page proudly tells us: "Industry analysts have estimated global Internet gaming revenue could potentially total between US$7 billion and US$10 billion by 2001. The Australian share of this revenue is estimated at more than US$2 billion. GOCORP's early entry into the Australian market, and its status as the only purely online gaming company to have an online gaming licence, means that it is uniquely placed to achieve significant market share in this exciting sector."
Woodridge MP D'Arcy's involvement would appear to be as the money man, the MP is a millionaire facing child-sex charges and would have the financial clout to back the others - who are all Ipswich-based.
While Professor McMillen, an expert on Australian gambling and casino regulatory policy, says, "It raises questions and I think you need to cast a spotlight on it. I would like to know more about the criteria and the process," a spokesman for Mr Hamill replied that the decision was "made at arm's length after extensive probity checks".
Hamill was officially informed of the conflict of interest through the interests held in Gocorp by officials from the Queensland Office of Gambling Regulation before he recommended that a license be granted a few months ago.
Cr Paul Pisasale took over the reigns of Global Info-Links in 1995 shortly after his election to the Ipswich Council. He is also the city's Chairman of Economic Development. Pisasale's influence over Mark Hinchliffe, the editor of the local newspaper, the Queensland Times, has been questioned in the past - they are neighbours and are known to be very close friends. Channel 9's A Current Affairs investigated this close relationship about two years ago...
Typical of the effect of this neighbourly relationship is the following comment in today's QT editorial... "As Cr Pisasale pointed out, good roads won't attract tourists nor residents..." the Councillor often being singled out as someone who cares about the city's problems - in this case about maintaining deteriorating roads because of a budget shortfall. A nice free plug in the editor's editorial.
Don Livingston was defeated by One Nation MP Jack Paff in the 1998 State Elections - he is now a Labor ministerial adviser with direct contacts to Hamill's office.
Bill D'Arcy is currently at the centre of child-sex allegations in Brisbane. He was named by the Courier-Mail in September last year. Among the 47 child-sex charges he faces are one that he sexually assaulted the same girl for six months when he was a teacher in the 1970s. Two of the women making charges against D'Arcy are sisters - who went to see Independent MP Peter Wellington over their claims. The allegations against him have been made by twelve girls and three boys at a time when he was a Queensland teacher between 1961 and 1972.
If this is not a classic case for the CJC to investigate then I would like to know what is. (Not that I have much faith in the politically biased CJC).
The question I would like to ask Cr Paul Pisasale is why the ratepayers of Ipswich were left out of this lucrative deal... after all as the Chairman of the Global Info-Links project he would have seen the value of the project for the ratepayers... but they were not considered when he took his stake. What the ratepayers are stuck with is the much-vaunted Global Arts Link project which is set to become a financial burden on Ipswich ratepayers despite the fanfare the Queensland Times has given it.
Just who does he serve because it doesn't appear to be the ratepayers he represents.