Courts Remote Participation Bill
This bill updates the rules about joining court hearings by phone or video call instead of going in person. It replaces an older law from 2010 with a clearer system. Judges and court registrars (court officials who manage paperwork and some decisions) can decide when remote joining is allowed. Victims of crime get the right to watch trials and sentencing from home by video if they want. The bill also makes it a crime to secretly record or share recordings of court hearings without permission.
What this affects
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Victims of crime can watch trials and sentencing by video from home, and secretly recording or sharing court recordings becomes a criminal offence with fines or possible jail time.
A victim of an offence and their support person are entitled to observe all or part of the trial and sentencing for the offence by the use of a remote technology if — the remote technology is available; and the victim gives the court reasonable notice that they wish to use the remote technology.
A person commits an offence if they knowingly or recklessly publish a recording of a proceeding without the leave of the court. A person that commits an offence against this section is liable on conviction, in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a fine not exceeding $12,000; in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $50,000.
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
Submissions open once a bill reaches the select committee stage and the committee calls for them. In the meantime, you can write to your local MP about it.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.