A supervision order dictating the living arrangements and curfews that will monitor serial sex offender Robert John Fardon for the rest of his life has been lifted by a Queensland court.
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The 70-year-old would not have remain monitored if the state government had not rushed through law changes as a backup plan in case it failed to extend his supervision order.
He was first convicted in 1967, then aged 18, for sexual abuses offences against a 10-year-old girl.
In 2003 he became the first person to be jailed in Queensland indefinitely under new laws targeting repeat sex offenders but was released five years ago on the supervision order.
The state government made a case to the Brisbane Supreme Court in November to extend Fardon's classification as a dangerous prisoner.
Its argument was in contrast to three psychiatrists who said he posed a low risk of carrying out more crimes and should not stay under the state's watch.
A decision to lift the order was handed down by Justice Helen Bowskill last week, but media were asked to leave the hearing and blocked from accessing and reporting her ruling.
The order was made public on Wednesday morning.
"I am not satisfied that the evidence establishes to the requisite high degree of probability that the respondent is a serious danger to the community in the absence of a further supervision order," it reads.
Fardon now automatically falls under the child sex offender laws passed in September.
It means police will know where he lives, travels, details of his phone and internet connections, social media accounts, passwords, interactions and changes to his appearance for the rest of his life, Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said.
"If Fardon fails to meet these reporting conditions, he could face five years in jail," she added.
He no longer needs to reside in a halfway house and will not be automatically required to wear a tracking device.
Police can apply to the court for him to be tracked again, but Police Commissioner Ian Stewart says they will not do this.
He has reassured Queenslanders Fardon had not reoffended or breached supervision orders since his release from prison five years ago.
"I'm not condoning this person or what he's done, I'm just saying the system is working," he said.
Mr Stewart declined to go into detail about the monitoring of Fardon and how regularly they would keep an eye on him.
The state opposition wants him returned to jail and high profile child protection advocate Hetty Johnston agrees.
"If (Labor) didn't play politics and adopted the LNP's proposed sex offender laws, this sadistic grub would still be under lock and key," Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington tweeted.
Australian Associated Press