The Ministry of Justice unsuccessfully sought funding in Budget 2025 for its PPP courthouse project to replace courts in Rotorua, pictured, and Auckland.
Frustrations about Rotorua’s courthouse being leaky, crowded and poorly laid out are back in the spotlight after it ranked last in the latest Court User’s survey.
It’s prompted a fresh plea to prioritise redeveloping or replacing the building, which houses the District and High Courts, in the next Budget.
These concerns, and subsequent safety issues and delays have been well publicised in the past, with calls for a fix stretching back beyond 2018.
The Ministry of Justice’s latest survey results found only 68% of Rotorua court users were satisfied or very satisfied with the services and facilities.
It’s a 10% drop from the last survey in 2023, where overall court satisfaction was at 78%.
The ministry says questions changed substantially between surveys, and advises caution when analysing trends.
It notes 100% of Rotorua respondents felt they were treated with respect, and felt safe or very safe in the courtroom.
But Rotorua barrister Andrew Hill says the results indicate people are coming to the end of their tether.
“We were always under the impression that either the courthouse was going to be redeveloped and these issues were going to be addressed, or they were eventually going to take the step of finding new land and building a new courthouse.”
He says the issues start right at the courthouse’s sole entrance.
“That volume of people trying to go through one little bottleneck in security, it just causes insane backlogs.”
Hill said Monday mornings when the jury pool arrived were a good example, with up to 80 people milling outside for almost an hour.
“If it’s raining, the majority of them are getting wet ... so just trying to get in is a real pain in the backside.”
He said rainy days can impact the court process from inside too, sometimes halting proceedings in the main District Court jury trial room altogether, adding it also leaks like a sieve.
“It’s a little pokey box with no windows ... and if it’s particularly heavy rain, you actually have to stop the trial because the rain is so loud that it interferes with the case.”
Hill said disruptions could add up when technology got involved because of patchwork attempts to introduce technology to a facility built without modern IT capabilities in mind.
“They’re prone to breaking down or being unreliable, and it’s so frustrating ‘cause it causes such big delays.”
He’s also dubbed the courts’ cells “third world”, adding they were something out of a 1970s prison drama, with their size causing security issues.
“They’re horrific. They’re cold. I often see clients who are freezing down there.”
Hill said successive governments had strung them along with multiple plans to rebuild the facility.
The ministry owns land for a new building on Pukuatua St which it bought in 2023.
The Rotorua Daily Post reported it cost $7.15 million.
Earlier this year, the Government announced plans for a Public Private Partnership to deliver a new Waitakere District Court, a High and District Court in Rotorua, and a new Māori Land Court in Rotorua.
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee made her pitch to international investors in March at the Government’s two-day Investment Summit.
She said the project was of real significance, requiring an estimated capital investment of over $400 million, and that it would address critical capacity and functionality issues.
Speaking to investors, she invited them to be part of the partnership, saying they were “poised to press go on their first project”.
But months later, BusinessDesk reported a potential investor’s disappointment, because Budget 2025 did not allocate the necessary funds for the project to go ahead.
The ministry confirmed in July that it had received interest from six to eight potential consortia for the build.
It said it was still considering options to deliver these projects in the future should funding become available.
Mayor Tania Tapsell said the decision not to allocate the funds remained a disappointment for Rotorua as well as the wider community, given it was one of the busiest regional court centres.
She called the courthouse “truly terrible”.
“It really does not meet modern standards, but it also doesn’t reflect the mana of the community that it serves.
“We’ve got incredible legal staff that operate out of that courthouse, and we actually just need a building that’s not only fit for purpose, but it’s also safe.”
Tapsell says it’s not an insignificant issue.
“This is right smack bang in the middle of our city, and we simply cannot have this old degrading building keep getting bumped down the list.
“We’re ready to invest, and we’re asking the Government to also please come to the table in the next budget.”
Crown Solicitor Amanda Gordon says safety issues are largely because of the building’s poor design.
Gordon said there were security concerns during a recent trial involving the Mongrel Mob and Black Power, when members of both gangs were expected to congregate in the public foyer without any separation.
She said there are some rooms available for the most vulnerable witnesses, but the rest end up waiting in the same space.
But Gordon said even these were problematic, as they were situated by the walkway to the lawyers’ break room.
“Because defence lawyers who might be in the middle of cross-examining a witness and then just walking past them ... which is again, just layout-wise, absolutely hopeless.”
Gordon said the courtrooms themselves aren’t designed for modern trials, with the biggest only able to take up to seven defendants despite larger trials regularly involving 10 to 12 defendants.
Splitting up trials - meaning proceedings would have to take place twice - has legitimately been discussed, she said.
“There’s just not enough space and that creates real delays and real problems in the administration of justice.”
Gordon said a murder in Rotorua today wouldn’t go to trial until the second half of 2028, with much of the schedule booked out by trials from Tauranga.
A new Tauranga courthouse is being built, and is expected to take three years.
In the meantime, High Court criminal trials are being moved elsewhere, including to Rotorua.
Gordon can think of two recent examples where people have been charged with murder, and bailed because of this wait time.
“The judge has just said, ‘Look, I’m not prepared for them to sit in custody for three years’ ... it’s certainly becoming more prevalent that they are getting more bail because of the delays.”
When it comes to seeing a new courthouse up and running, Gordon doesn’t have much hope, having been involved in several previous discussions and attempts with the ministry.
“When we had the last review, I said to the person from the ministry, ’I’ll be dead before we get a new courthouse.’ They said, ‘Oh don’t be like that’, and I said, ‘But I’ve been having these discussions for 20 years and you’ve made absolutely no progress’.”
Ministry Corporate Services Deputy Secretary Kelvin Watson said it continued to monitor all its buildings, undertaking planned and reactive maintenance as required.
“The ministry continues to assess funding opportunities to progress priority capital projects.”
Emily Ansell is an Auckland-based Newstalk ZB multimedia journalist, with a focus on court, local health and social issues and general news.