Hon Simon Power
Minister of Justice

15 October 2010 Media Statement

Minister confident over courtroom video links

Justice Minister Simon Power today visited Auckland District Court to see its audio visual link trial with Auckland Central Remand Prison in action.

The trial, which began in late August, followed Parliament's passing of the Courts (Remote Participation) Act in July.

The Act enables greater use of audio visual link technology to simplify and speed up the criminal justice system, and to minimise safety and security risks and costs associated with transporting prisoners to court.

AVL is expected to be used mainly for procedural matters. It can be used for trials, but only with the consent of the defendant.

Mr Power says from what he saw today he is confident AVL will be a very useful tool for the justice system and for those in it.

“As at October 1, AVL has been used on 137 occasions – about five times a day – with the bulk of the hearings for procedural matters, including list appearances, call-overs, and bail applications.

“I'm advised that the majority of the 137 hearings started on time, and that AVL is being well received by defendants, lawyers, and judges.

“It's expected that by the end of the six-month trial, AVL will be able to double the current capacity as participants become more comfortable with it.”

Mr Power says that in about one quarter of the hearings, lawyers in the court have used the Instructions Suite to privately consult with their clients at the remand prison, and that is expected to increase.

The AVL trial will be reviewed in February before a wider rollout to up to three additional district courts – Manukau, Hamilton and Christchurch – and corresponding prisons. The Government has committed about $2 million over the next year for the rollout.

The Ministry of Justice anticipates that by 2014 some of New Zealand's biggest courts could each have up to 2,000 remand prisoner appearances by AVL a year.

ENDS

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