  The broad absorption line (BAL) features seen in a small fraction of quasar
optical/UV spectra are attributed to bulk outflows away from the quasar core.
Observational evidence suggests that dust plays a key role in these systems,
although whether the inferred dust properties are a signature of orientation
effects or whether they are indicative of an evolutionary sequence remains an
outstanding issue. Submillimetre (submm) detections of BAL quasars (BALQSOs),
which would clearly help to resolve this issue, have so far been sparse. This
paper reports on new submm observations of seven BALQSOs. The strongest
influence on the observed flux is found to be the redshift, with the two
highest redshift sources appearing intrinsically more submm-luminous than the
lower redshift ones. Since this trend is also seen in other high redshift AGN,
including non-BAL quasars it implies that the dust emission properties of these
systems are no different from those of the general AGN population, which is
difficult to reconcile with the evolutionary interpretation of the BAL
phenomenon.
