27th January 2001
There is an ugly side of Beattie lurking behind the skin-thick smiling façade presented to the public. This fact is summed in a report currently being assessed by the senior solicitor acting for the Queensland Police Force. Colin Strothfeld is currently on bereavement leave but when he returns to work on 5th February he will present this report to the Criminal Justice Commission after first viewing and assessing it. The CJC requested this report from the police over three months ago following an official complaint by Scott Balson. Balson met with the CJC's Peter Jones in November last year and alleged that the judicial bureaucracies were politically compromised. Balson claimed that they displayed blatant double standards when it came to the application of the rule of law. Strothfeld's personal involvement in the assessment of this report following Balson's complaint reflects the serious nature of the QPS findings.
Balson has been advised by Jones that earlier this month the QPS submitted a recommendation to the Office of the Attorney-General that The Bulletin be charged for allegedly breaching section 7 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act of 1978. The CJC's own preliminary investigations revealed that the allegations against The Bulletin had never been investigated. Matt Foley has yet to act on this recommendation despite the fact that he took just two days to order Balson's arrest under the same Act after The Courier-Mail lodged a complaint with the DPP. It was alleged by The Courier-Mail that Balson had identified Labor MP Bill D'Arcy, before he was committed for trial, as a man facing child sex charges. The QPS never investigated the allegations against Balson before he was arrested on Foley's orders. The QPS' recommendation against The Bulletin came as a direct result of Balson's complaint to the CJC despite the fact that Foley had, incorrectly, advised Parliament in May last year that he could not act against the magazine as the Police investigations were ongoing. The police never investigated The Bulletin despite an official complaint being lodged by D'Arcy's lawyer, Terry O'Gorman, on the day the magazine appeared in news agents (13 Jan 2000) - its withdrawal was never ordered by the DPP despite the fact that the magazine (with a Queensland circulation of 51,000) appeared to be in breach of the law.
The systemic corruption by key Labor identities of the sanctity of executive government, which should be above politics, reflect a key political issue in the lead up to the State Election. The lack of action by Foley against The Bulletin weeks after the QPS' recommendation flies in the face of the highly intimidatory manner that Balson was dealt with following his arrest and placement in a police cell. Double standards are clearly the hallmark of the first judicial officer of Queensland.
The delay by the QPS in submitting the report back to the CJC over three months after Balson first lodged his complaint reflects a clear intention to delay the scandalous manner in which Beattie and his cabinet have compromised the integrity of executive government. Clearly they don't want the report to become public until after the Feb 17 State Election. This cancer is nothing new. Over 500 copies of the now infamous Lindeberg Petition, tabled in Parliament in October 1999, have now been requested by members of the public - prompting the Speaker of the House to order, in July 2000, that the public pay about $15 for a copy of the document as a deterrent. The Lindeberg Petition details the manner in which executive government in Queensland has been compromised by both Labor and Coalition governments.
It is quite clear that Labor have skeletons rattling in the cupboard which make the Shepherdson Enquiry seem like a storm in a tea cup in comparison. These issues are further complicated by the secret top level discussions which take place regularly between senior staff at The Courier-Mail and government.
Balson has been waiting patiently for the CJC to report back to him officially on this matter. With the State Election looming he will wait no longer and is now going public on the stench that prevails in Beattie's government.
Media enquiries: Scott Balson phone: 3201 1353