Editorial: Premier must keep this animal locked up

ROBERT John Fardon is a psychopath. That has been the view of psychologists for decades. Fardon, one of Queensland’s most notorious rapists, has a rap sheet that dates back to attempted unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl aged under 10 in 1967.

Opposition justice spokesman David Janetzki yesterday called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to do “all she can” to keep Fardon and other dangerous sexual offenders under strict supervision.

ROBERT John Fardon is a psychopath. That has been the view of psychologists for decades.

Fardon, one of Queensland’s most notorious rapists, has a rap sheet that dates back to attempted unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl aged under 10 in 1967. Since that offence as an 18-year-old, Fardon has been convicted of numerous other violent sexual crimes against women and children.

Every time he has been released into the community he has reoffended.

For some, Fardon is the very definition of a prisoner that society should have found a way to “lock up and throw away the key”.

And that is what Queenslanders were promised in 2003 with the passing of the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act which ushered in the era of indefinite sentences against the state’s worst offenders who experts agreed were beyond rehabilitation.

However, in just over a month, Fardon will be a completely free man.

Since 2014, he has been living under strict supervision orders that prohibit his movements and ensure authorities are aware of his whereabouts at all times. However, in just a few weeks the 69-year-old will be free from the shackles of curfews and counselling as well as restrictions on where he can live.

This is a travesty of justice.

Experts have repeatedly warned that Fardon does not have the moral code of a normal person and only age would dim his ability to reoffend.

Yet repeatedly, judges have given the green light for him to be released under the annual review process that was written into the Dangerous Prisons law to appease civil libertarians.

This process has shamefully forced Fardon’s victims to relive their nightmare on an annual basis.

When the current release order was granted in 2013, one of those victims had an ominous warning.

“He’s a proven psychopath, he will offend,” she said. “There’s no doubt in my mind.

“Unfortunately it’s going to be at the cost of someone else. It’s frightening for the community.”

Just imagine her fear yesterday at news that Fardon will no longer be formally tracked by authorities.

The only conclusion that can be drawn now is that the Dangerous Prisons (Sexual Offenders) Act has failed her and Fardon’s other victims.

While the former Labor government that introduced indefinite sentences sought to do so within the confinements of the law, it has failed to live up to expectation that it would keep incurable offenders off our streets.

Over the last 15 years Fardon has been released on supervision orders only to breach his conditions and be returned to jail. That included incidents a decade ago when he attended a school on a prearranged visit, disobeyed a curfew restriction, and travelled without authority to Townsville.

Over a period of forty years now, Queensland’s justice system has provided Fardon with opportunities to become a law-abiding citizen only for him to commit one heinous crime after another. The toing and froing that has occurred over Fardon for the past 15 years is the result of what were manifestly inadequate sentences to begin with.

Successive governments have had to play with the cards that were dealt.

Opposition justice spokesman David Janetzki yesterday called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to do “all she can” to keep Fardon and other dangerous sexual offenders under strict supervision. “The Government’s first responsibility should be to keep Queenslanders safe,” he said.

While these comments serve no purpose other than to state the obvious, Fardon’s release should concern the Palaszczuk Government enough to conduct a wholesale review of the failing indefinite sentence laws.

The Government needs to assess what can be done to strengthen the laws, reduce review opportunities and monitor offenders longer when they are released on supervision orders.

With other notorious offenders subject to these laws also waiting for release, the Government has no time to waste. A justice system that allows predators and psychopaths to roam free is no justice system at all.

BROKEN PROMISE A BLESSING

PETER Beattie once famously declared that he’d never accept another taxpayer-funded role and that he planned to disappear permanently from public life. The former Labor premier has consistently and repeatedly breached that commitment.

And thankfully Beattie performed another of his famed backflips and broke that edict again when he accepted the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games’ chairman role. Many Labor types thought the Palaszczuk Government was living in a fool’s paradise to even consider Queensland’s most notorious media tart for the high-profile role.

While some of these omens came true and the scenario created plenty of creative tension between the government and GOLDOC, few would argue that Beattie’s stewardship of the event wasn’t a success.

Sure, the Games were book ended by opening and closing ceremonies that were below par.

However, the athletes performed in world-class facilities and tens of thousands of spectators travelled to and from events with minimal fuss.

And very few events of such scale would have committed the early efforts that GOLDOC did towards ensuring an ongoing legacy for their communities.

Beattie may or may not have meant it when he committed all those years ago to retreating from public life.

It was a promise that Queenslanders, should be thankful that he failed to keep.