Goulburn MP Pru Goward is urging the community to be patient as it waits for the outcome of a Land Claim by Illawarra Aboriginal Land Council for Berrima Gaol.
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The Land Council lodged a Land Claim for the site on February 24, about four months after it ceased operating as a low-to-medium-security women's prison.
"We just have to go through the process and have to make the case to the Minister that there was interest in using this as a community facility well before that land claim was made," Ms Goward said.
"I received representations and I know representations were made to the Minister (Katrina Hodgkinson) within weeks of the decision to close the gaol.
"Even before they decided to sell it or close it permanently there were many community groups who came up with proposals to turn it into community facility.
"And I know Wingecarribee shire council was very quick out of the blocks and got in touch with the State Government about its future.
"For the claim not to succeed, anybody who wanted it for another community use had to have made their expression of interest before the claim was made, but it would also depend on the ongoing use of the building and the connections with the land.
"It think it's quite a complicated Act and I think the Minister will take all of that into account if she has to make a decision."
Vacant Crown Land, land that is not set aside for an essential public purpose or land the government is seeking to dispose of is claimable under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
The average time for processing Land Claims was about five years and the building cannot be used during that time.