The Queensland Times - 6th January 1999
Former One Nation webmaster Scott Balson yesterday claimed he had been "singled out by the office of Crown Law" and called for a special prosecutor to investigate his claims.
Mr Balson, who faced Ipswich Magistrates Court yesterday, has been charged with publishing the name of a man facing committal on child-sex counts.
Full story page 3 (article below):
Former One Nation webmaster Scott Balson briefly faced Ipswich Magistrates Court yesterday, charged with publishing the name of a man facing committal on child-sex counts.
It is alleged that Mr Balson published, on his personal Internet site, the name of a prominent Queenslander facing child-sex charges.
The charges against Mr Balson were originally brought in Brisbane, but transferred to the Ipswich jurisdiction.
Mr Balson yesterday told the court he would be pleading not guilty. He was granted bail on his own undertaking.
Magistrate Donna McCallum set a March hearing date.
Outside court, Mr Balson launched an attack on the State Government and Premier Peter Beattie.
He said that the doctrine of the separation on powers had been a "grey area" under Mr Beattie's leadership.
Mr Balson claimed he has been "singled out by the office of Crown Law".
He called for a special prosecutor to investigate his claims.
The Editor
Queensland Times
Dear sir,
I refer to your article "Balson launches new attack".
The call, by me, for a special prosecutor has been taken out of context so perhaps I can clarify this to your readers. My statement to the media yesterday was, verbatim:
"One of the basic foundations of any democracy is the separation of powers. This has become a very grey area under this accountable Beattie government. The Office of Crown Law for example has become highly politicised. This fact is spelt out in the Lindeberg Petition which has been tabled in Parliament. I was singled out for arrest by the Office of Crown Law. I call on the government to establish a special independent prosecutor to immediately investigate the claims and allegations raised in the Lindeberg Petition. If they don't let the voters of Queensland know and understand that the Labor Government is not fair dinkum."
You will note that I called for the government to establish a special prosecutor to investigate the claims and allegations raised in the Lindeberg Petition - not my case. Any of your readers can get a free copy of this petition by contacting Bills and Papers at parliament.
With reference to the article in the Courier-Mail on 6th January, in which they dispute being the primary complainant, it should be noted that the police conducted a search on The Courier-Mail to obtain a copy of the alleged offending document after a letter was written to the DPP by the paper's Sue Monk.
The Office of Crown Law when establishing the background to my arrest, at the request of my lawyers, refer specifically to Sue Monk's letter.
Despite The Courier-Mail's imputation that the complainant was Terry O'Gorman his name is not mentioned once in the brief of evidence against me while The Courier-Mail and Monk's letter is referred to in several places.
I stand by my claim in my earlier press release that The Courier-Mail was the primary complainant in this case to which I have pleaded not guilty.
Yours sincerely
Scott Balson