A meeting was held on Wednesday at the courthouse between key stakeholders in the community and the Senior Registrar from Lismore, Michael Knock, who is responsible for staffing registries.

Members from Mr Torbay’s office, Tenterfield Shire Council, Tenterfield Police and local legal practitioners discussed the issue of reducing the days of the court clerk from five to three.

No specific results were determined, but the closed forum was an opportunity for stakeholders to have their views known about the issue.

Representative for Jennings and Kniepp, Kerri Swain, said that Tenterfield’s remote location means locals deserve access to a full time court clerk.

“Just because we are in the country doesn’t mean they should reduce access to services,” Mrs Swain said.

“That the services are uneconomical is no excuse. Many roads aren’t economical but we still have them because they’re essential. It’s the same with the courthouse. It’s about access to justice.

“It is a great imposition for the police who become taxi drivers. Kids are carted off to Tamworth and often their parents can’t make the trip. Then the kids don’t get bail because they have no family in court.

“It’s not like we’re just outside of Tamworth with access to public transport.”

Several meeting participants raised the point of using Tenterfield police resources to transport people for bail hearings if there was no clerk available in town. Mayor Toby Smith said that in the event of bail being granted, the police would have to transport the person back to Tenterfield. It also meant that the escort would have to wait around until the court proceedings had been completed.

“My main concern for Tenterfield is that policing numbers would be compromised,” Mayor Smith said.

“It’s far better to have it conducted in Tenterfield and keep the office open five days a week.

“There could be possible flow-on effects and as a community we want to retain a clerk of the court servicing us five days a week.”

Mayor Smith said he would continue to work with local member Richard Torbay and Michael Knock to make sure that the clerk of the court office is operating five days a week.

Mr Knock acknowledged local concerns on the issue but said he was trying to find efficient ways of spending public money. He also said that services previously dedicated to the courthouse, such as the Government Access Program, had been moved to the RTA registry. This has lifted the workload and means the courthouse workload has been reduced.

“It is something we are doing across the state,” Mr Knock said.

“This is a bit of a test case. The traditional service model is in place but there is not enough work for (the clerk).”

Mr Knock said he was talking to council about sending duties away from the courthouse and to the council chambers to allow for a single access point for people requiring certain services.

“I want to establish a service three days a week on the days that court sits and a day before. At the end of the day it is public money we are spending,” Mr Knock said.

“The court clerk is here five days a week at the moment but people are not using the service five days a week.

But this is beside the point for Mr Torbay who sees a reduction of services in Tenterfield as detrimental for the community.

“I won’t allow any service reduction in our court system,” Mr Torbay said.

“I’m pleased the meeting occurred at my insistence.”

Mr Torbay said that a range of issues were presented in the meeting and he would be taking them personally to the Attorney General when he meets with him tomorrow. He said he would also discuss obtaining more Department of Community Services’ resources for Tenterfield and addressing youth-related issues at the meeting.