And in the process NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos officially opened the entire court complex, saying the main court built in the 1890s was never officially opened.

It sat idle after being built as people argued about aspects of its operation, until Judge Fitzharding arrived to conduct a District Court hearing, and decided to start using the new courthouse, Mr Hatzistergos told the gathering.

However the community and the demands of justice had come a long way since then, Mr Hatzistergos said, creating the need for a new court in the Nowra court complex, allowing District or even Supreme Court to sit in Nowra without disrupting the operations of Nowra Local Court.

And the new courtroom comes complete with the latest technology to ensure the protection of anyone in need of protection.

“There’s a remote witness room, giving vulnerable witnesses a private place to testify,” Mr Hatzistergos said. Their evidence can be relayed into the new court through closed-circuit television.

In addition there were better facilities for people with disabilities, because, “In the interests of justice, the courts have to be accessible to everyone,” Mr Hatzistergos said.

There were also additional rooms in which people could meet privately with legal representatives, better facilities for jurors, and new security measures.

NSW Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson told the gathering video-conferencing was “one of the greatest innovations I have seen in 20 years”.

Transporting prisoners to and from court hearings throughout the State was expensive and potentially dangerous, Mr Henson said, and the capacity to carry out video-conferencing in the Nowra Court meant those problems were minimised, while allowing prisoners to continue with education and rehabilitation programs.

Mr Hatzistergos conceded the jail planned for South Nowra would place added strain on the court in Nowra,

as, “When you have inmates in custody, from time to time those inmates

will require access to a judge or a

magistrate”.

But the bulk of that access would be via video-conferencing, he said.

However Nowra needed a better and expanded court complex because it was “a growing region”, Mr Hatzistergos said.

“It does deserve outstanding public facilities to cater for that growth.”