Work will be completed for the next sitting of the court on May 12.

“This follows on from when we had the Deputy Premier here last year, showing him the police station,” Mr Marshall said.

He said although the court runs very well, the lack of technology was impeding it by forcing prisoners and witnesses to be present in court to give evidence.

“And there were no facilities here for vulnerable witnesses to give evidence, rather than having to endure what is quite an adversarial and difficult courtroom situation,” Mr Marshall said.

“And also, with a lot of CCTV footage being used in a lot of cases, it means having the equipment here to properly display that evidence, so the court can see it.”

Inverell Police Acting Inspector Ross Chilcott described the upgrade as superb.

“I can use and example. Last Thursday we had six bail refused prisoners come here from Moree,” he said.

“They were transported over here, five minutes in the court and then we had to transport them back to Moree.

“All of those six wouldn’t have been required to come here with the audio video link. It reduces all that travelling time for corrective services and police.”

Acting Inspector Chilcott said it would also stop officers having to introduce domestic violence evidence to the courts from personal laptops.

“It will make the evidence that victims have to give a lot easier,” he said.

Registrar Wayne Fleming said the upgrade would make life a little easier for courthouse staff too.

“We’ll be able to get transcripts prepared much sooner than we have been able to do,” Wayne said.

“It’s a step forward for the justice system at Inverell, and a great cost saving to the government.

Mayor Paul Harmon said he viewed the upgrade as a first step to an improvement in the town’s policing situation that should also include a new police station.

“As Inverell continues to grow, the facilities provided by state government need to match our growing population,” he said.