Plans to modernise courts with video links

Judges from Invercargill and Queenstown district courts would be able to connect over video conferences to make the process ‘‘as easy as possible’’.

Justice and Courts Minister Amy Adams said video conferences would deal with call-over issues in a more effective and simple way.

‘‘It means you can have disabled workers, you can have mothers with young children, they can live out of town. So it’s a more efficient system.

‘‘The services provided to court users – including victims – must be faster and more consistent, and rely less on paper and buildings,’’ she said.

Adams said they were yet to provide the facilities to each courtroom in Queenstown and Invercargill with other improvements made.

She also said the prisoners won’t be moved in and out of town once the system rolls out.

‘‘We reduced prisoner’s transport by 20 per cent which obviously isn’t just a cost and time serving but is a significant improvement in terms of safety,’’ Adams said.

The initiative also aimed to reduce the number of people travelling to remote locations and reduce weather delays.

‘‘Growth of video conferencing initiatives has potential for benefits nationwide with more than 4500 procedural events held in our more remote courts over the past 12 months requiring a judge or parties to travel to a remote site,’’ Adams said. The minister said less travelling would also make a small impact on the traffic ease at the resort.

Queenstown businesses should increase remote working and remote services to make a ‘‘more significant’’ difference she said.

‘‘There might be a bigger amount of residents that would see their bank, their lawyer or their doctor from home.’’ Areas of Northland, Southland and Central Otago were identified as areas that would particularly benefit from this initiative with learning to be applied nationwide.

‘‘Modernising the courts is about making the engine room of our justice system fit for purpose, including through the smart use of technology, that serves all court users,’’ Adams said.

Earlier trials of video conferencing were held at the Family Court three years ago with the recent upgrades to video conferencing technology providing a better service nationwide.

Adams was in the resort yesterday for an official Ultra Fast Broadband rollout in Queenstown.