Rotorua barrister and solicitor Andy Hill. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat concerns me about the latest black mould issue is that it is a recurrence of what has happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the judge\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
A leaking roof caused mould in the Rotorua Courthouse law library in 2017. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n
\u201cThat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he had seen dehumidifiers in the law library and in courtrooms, and he wondered why they were required.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are those sorts of machines doing in the building? I just don\u2019t trust them [the ministry] that it is not anywhere else, quite frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill said while lawyers were making the loudest complaints, they at least were usually in and out of the building every day.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called for the entire building to be tested from \u201chead to toe\u201d because he found it difficult to believe black mould only existed in the judges\u2019 chambers area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe it is isolated … the place is riddled with leaks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ministry declined to respond to Hill\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll funding decisions are made by Cabinet as part of the official Budget process,\u201d Goldsmith said.<\/p>\n
The courthouse saga<\/p>\n
In 2023, the Government bought a site for a new courthouse<\/a> at 1130 Pukuatua St for $7.15 million, raising locals\u2019 hopes that building might progress.<\/p>\n In 2025, the Government announced plans for a public-private partnership to deliver a new High Court, District Court and M\u0101ori Land Court in Rotorua.<\/p>\n Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee made her pitch to international investors in March 2025 at the Government\u2019s two-day Investment Summit.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s Budget, however, revealed there was no money for the new building<\/a>.<\/p>\n Plenary, one of the largest private infrastructure investors in Australia, had expressed interest and wrote to Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop expressing disappointment.<\/p>\n Bishop said in January that not everything could be funded in every Budget.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Government has to carefully prioritise investment, like every household in New Zealand does.\u201d <\/p>\n