Transforming our justice and emergency services facilities
The NSW Government is ensuring justice infrastructure has the capacity to meet the needs of our community.
Our emergency response services, police stations, courthouses and correctional centres are highly interconnected. Community safety is at the heart of how we think about and plan for our justice system and emergency services across the state.
The NSW Government is committed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our justice system, while reducing reoffending rates. Our Corrective Services NSW Infrastructure Strategy 2017–2037 guides our investment in corrective services assets over the next 20 years. It focuses on considering the need for additional long-term prison bed capacity and building sustainable prison bed capacity across NSW. The NSW Government has currently committed $2.4 billion to the Prison Bed Capacity program and we will ensure that we plan for future needs.
We will ensure that assets support an efficient and integrated justice system – from the NSW Police Force and emergency management through to the courts and tribunals, and Corrective Services NSW – with a view to future co-location and shared justice precincts. Justice infrastructure needs to be located to cater to demand, minimise processing time and ensure a seamless transition through the system. This is essential to community safety.
The NSW Government has prioritised a review of current asset management practices and will develop a new comprehensive 20-year Justice Cluster Infrastructure Strategy. Both the review and Justice Cluster Infrastructure Strategy will apply to Corrective Services NSW, Juvenile Justice NSW, police and emergency services, and NSW courts and tribunals. The NSW Government will consider the need to address court capacity in the Sydney CBD, in south-west Sydney and at specific locations in regional NSW. The NSW Government will also consider the continued use of digital technology, both in asset management and service delivery.