Mr ANDREW GEE: My question is directed to the Attorney General. What is the Government doing to improve court facilities in New South Wales?

Mr GREG SMITH: I thank the member for Orange for this question and I commend his great interest in things legal and in looking after his own electorate and the courts in it. Last Friday an audiovisual link was established between Wellington court and Wellington jail.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on both sides will come to order. Members will cease conversing in the Chamber. The Attorney General has the call.

Mr GREG SMITH: That is largely due to the efforts of the member for Orange, who has been pressing the case for this technology since we came to office. I hope to see it in operation when I visit Wellington later this month. It is part of the $1.4 million program to deliver these facilities across the State. It is money well spent. It can be very expensive to transport prisoners under armed guard to have their day in court; and that means fewer police doing that job and not their other tasks. Another benefit is for the families of inmates. For example, someone can attend a jail, say in Wellington, and talk to someone being held in Goulburn.

I saw those audiovisual facilities when I visited Tamworth recently; persons in private rooms were using the video link to talk to their Sydney lawyer, and so on. But the main benefit is public safety. Prisoners still get their day in court but at a fraction of the cost and the risk. The courthouses receiving installations of, or upgrades to, remote witness and videoconferencing technology include Parramatta Local Court, Parramatta Children's Court and Sydney West Trial Courts, at a cost of $721,000; Campbelltown Local Court and Campbelltown Children's Court, at a cost of $350,000; Burwood Local Court; Wentworth Local Court—

Ms Linda Burney: How much was that?

Mr GREG SMITH: That was $11,000—it is cheaper in the country. Deniliquin will receive $30,000 for upgrades and Wellington will receive $40,000. A further 35 courthouses will receive minor audiovisual technology upgrades—

The SPEAKER: Order! Opposition members will cease asking the Minister questions.

Mr GREG SMITH: —at a total cost of $150,000. As more money becomes available—the former Government let the coffers go dry—we hope to expand the network even further. For example, videoconferencing is increasingly being used to hear prisoner bail applications. More than 61,000 videolink sessions were conducted in New South Wales justice facilities in 2010-11, saving taxpayers millions of dollars. By the end of June, videoconferencing will be operating at 309 courts, correction centres and other justice agency sites. It is an exciting time for the New South Wales justice system, with almost $150 million being spent on major new court complexes in Newcastle, Coffs Harbour—at long last; the former Government neglected Coffs Harbour for years—and Armidale and upgrades to other courthouses. We hope to commence construction mid-year on the $94 million Newcastle courthouse project. The seven-storey building will accommodate 10 courtrooms, two tribunal rooms and a host of facilities for the legal profession, victims of crime and justice agencies.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Maroubra will come to order.

Mr GREG SMITH: A development application is being finalised for the construction of a $40 million courthouse at Coffs Harbour, which will be built alongside a new police station—something else the former Government neglected to do for so many years. Those opposite not care about the people of the bush; they only care about their own little bailiwick. The construction of a three-storey courthouse in Armidale is underway. The building, which will cost $15 million to construct, will include a large trial court capable of accommodating up to 15 jurors, and a Local Court with a fully glazed secure dock for prisoners. In two weeks I will be opening the refurbished Taree courthouse with the member for Myall Lakes. In Sydney, the Liverpool courthouse—we spread our money everywhere—is undergoing a $6.5 million expansion. Waverley courthouse is in the final stages of a $1.6 million refurbishment project. [Extension of time granted.]

There will be a new $2.5 million high-security courtroom at the Downing Centre, which at times hears very heavy cases with lots of criminals in the dock, sometimes threatening the prosecutors and others—

The SPEAKER: Order! Opposition members will cease interjecting.

Mr GREG SMITH: I am sure they all know this because they are often in court. There will also be upgrades to courthouses in Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan, Milton and Inverell. Many of the best-performing courts operate in New South Wales. The court system in New South Wales is by far the best in Australia and these new facilities will help to improve the efficiency of this State's justice system. The increased use of videolink facilities in places like Wellington will be a win-win for the people of New South Wales—it will save money and put more police on the streets so they can look for criminals in the electorates of Toongabbie and Liverpool, for instance, and in all the other places where undesirables hang around. We will clean up the streets—even Opposition members' streets.