Login
New NCAT facility opens in Parramatta
The push for expansion in Parammata’s legal precinct continues with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) set to have its own premises in Parramatta, providing greater access to tribunal services in western Sydney.
Tony Zhang
Parramatta’s push to expand its legal precinct is gaining pace with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal opening a $2.3 million premises in Parramatta and quadrupling tribunal hearings in western Sydney.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Attorney-General Mark Speakman said the new premises will quadruple capacity in Parramatta from five hearing days a week to 20 hearing days a week.
“The world-class facility will provide specialist tribunal services to meet the needs of one of the fastest growing regions in NSW,” Mr Speakman said.
The new state-of-the-art purpose-built facilities will include four hearing rooms equipped with high definition videoconferencing technology, five conciliation rooms, a registry, public service counter and waiting room.
Mr Speakman said construction company Rork Projects Pty Limited will carry out the $2.3 million fit-out on Level 5 of 9 George Street, Parramatta.
“The Indigenous-owned company brings to this project 20 years’ experience in corporate, education and government refurbishment and [fit-outs],” Mr Speakman said.
Member for Parramatta Geoff Lee said the project is great news for the local economy and community which will benefit from having a dedicated NCAT registry.
“The project will create much-needed jobs for tradies and businesses in and around Parramatta and drive investment,” Mr Lee said.
“Moving swiftly to complete the [fit-out] will put the tribunal in a strong position to meet the needs of the local community.”
In 2018/19, NCAT held nearly 4,300 hearings in Parramatta and 85,000 hearings in more than 75 locations across NSW. More than a third of those took place in regional areas.
The ability for NCAT to utilise the new hearing rooms to full capacity will depend on COVID-19 restrictions that may be in place when work is complete in the new year.
This adds to the strategic plan to expand Parramatta’s justice precinct which will seek to bolster the “overloaded” family courts to assist it to deal with a backlog of cases across a massive catchment.
Furthermore, the planned additions of a new Supreme Court and a law school could potentially pump $353 million into Parramatta’s economy.
