With hysteria hitting Kurri Kurri following incorrect reports that notorious pedophile Dennis Ferguson had moved to town, The Herald can reveal that the Hunter continues to lead the state in housing recorded pedophiles and child sex offenders.

There are at least 230 criminals on the child protection register being monitored by Hunter police.

The Lake Macquarie police local area command remains in the top bracket for registered offenders, with at least 80 on the books including at least one child killer.

The former Lower Hunter command, which covered Maitland, the Coalfields and Port Stephens, had more people on the register than any of the state's 80 other local area commands before it was cut in half in 2008.

The Herald understands that the Central Hunter command, which covers Maitland and Cessnock, has about 60 registered pedophiles while Port Stephens has about 30.

The Newcastle City command has 61 on its books.

The official breakdown of numbers remains a closely guarded secret, with authorities wary of the widespread emotion about the non-disclosure of the locations of the convicted criminals.

The State Government and senior police argue that the register works better when it is not made public because any outing of offenders would drive them underground and make it harder to monitor them.

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston, who runs the Bravehearts organisation, said although she did not support the register being made public, she believed repeat criminals should be outed.

"For repeat offenders, who are continually being spat back into the community despite reoffending - I support a public register for them," Ms Johnston said.

"But my concern is that Mr and Mrs Suburbia would look at the list [if each offender's location was publicly named] and say "phew, there are no pedophiles in our area".