Just when they thought plans were underway to build a new courthouse on newly bought land on Pukuatua St, there was no funding in last year’s Budget to take it further.
Black mould is a fungus that can cause adverse health effects.
The mould was discovered after reports of a “musty smell”, Ministry of Justice corporate services deputy secretary Kelvin Watson said.
An independent air quality expert tested the air quality on May 12.
Watson said results showed poor air quality within parts of the judicial chambers area and some adjoining corridors and stairwells.
Follow-up investigations were initiated to understand the source.
Watson said four district court sentencing hearings had to be adjourned on Friday and judges and staff were temporarily moved from the chambers area.
One judge was able to remain in the building, but had to move to a different area, while the other judges now worked from an office building nearby.
The judges walk from the nearby offices to attend the hearings they are presiding over.
“The ministry acknowledges the disruption this work has had on judges and their working environment,” Watson said.
He said the affected spaces were secured and a programme of cleaning, testing and remediation had started.
This includes more air quality testing, bio-cleaning and removal and replacement of carpet in affected areas.
Watson said the judges and staff could return once testing confirmed the chambers area met appropriate air quality standards.
Watson said the ministry remained committed to long-term planning for court facilities and continued to work with the Government on future investment priorities.
“In the meantime, the focus is on ensuring the current facility remains safe and operational.”
The conditions at the Rotorua Courthouse were described in 2018 as “disgraceful” and “feral” by angry lawyers.
Rotorua barrister and solicitor Andy Hill. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua barrister and solicitor Andy Hill told the Rotorua Daily Post this week his colleagues had been saying for years the building was not fit for purpose.
“What concerns me about the latest black mould issue is that it is a recurrence of what has happened before.”
He said the judge’s chambers, a common room and a lunch area had to be shut several years ago while black mould was removed, the area was scrubbed and air testing was carried out.
A leaking roof caused mould in the Rotorua Courthouse law library in 2017. Photo / Ben Fraser
“That building leaks like a bloody sieve. If we have had it before, and we have had it again, there is no guarantee it is not going to come back.”
He said he had seen dehumidifiers in the law library and in courtrooms, and he wondered why they were required.
“What are those sorts of machines doing in the building? I just don’t trust them [the ministry] that it is not anywhere else, quite frankly.”
Hill said while lawyers were making the loudest complaints, they at least were usually in and out of the building every day.
He said he felt for staff who had to be there eight hours a day as well as those who attended court who were immunocompromised.
“It is just not on that they expect us to work in that environment in those sorts of hazards when they have gone about these things for years and years.”
He called for the entire building to be tested from “head to toe” because he found it difficult to believe black mould only existed in the judges’ chambers area.
“I don’t believe it is isolated … the place is riddled with leaks.”
The ministry declined to respond to Hill’s comments.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop, who has commented previously, passed questions to Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who said he and Courts Minister Nicole McKee were being kept up to date on the maintenance matter.
“All funding decisions are made by Cabinet as part of the official Budget process,” Goldsmith said.
The courthouse saga
In 2023, the Government bought a site for a new courthouse at 1130 Pukuatua St for $7.15 million, raising locals’ hopes that building might progress.
In 2025, the Government announced plans for a public-private partnership to deliver a new High Court, District Court and Māori Land Court in Rotorua.
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee made her pitch to international investors in March 2025 at the Government’s two-day Investment Summit.
She said at the time the project would need an estimated capital investment of more than $400m and would address critical capacity and functionality issues.
Last year’s Budget, however, revealed there was no money for the new building.
Plenary, one of the largest private infrastructure investors in Australia, had expressed interest and wrote to Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop expressing disappointment.
Bishop said in January that not everything could be funded in every Budget.
“The Government has to carefully prioritise investment, like every household in New Zealand does.”
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.