Occupation Public servant Name Michael Coutts-Trotter | ||
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Alma mater University of Technology, Sydney Organization Department of Family and Community Services People also search for Tanya Plibersek, Anna Coutts-Trotter, Joseph Coutts-Trotter, Louis Coutts-Trotter | ||
Michael Coutts-Trotter, an Australian public servant and is married to Tanya Plibersek MP, an Australian Labor Party politician and the federal Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
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Coutts-Trotter was given a nine-year prison sentence after being convicted for the importation and distribution of heroin into Australia in 1986.
Biography
In 1986, Coutts-Trotter was imprisoned on a nine-year jail sentence for conspiracy to import narcotics into Australia. At the time he was a heroin dealer and addict.
He was controversially appointed Director-General of the NSW Department of Education and Training in April 2007. This appointment was criticized by opposition members of Parliament, the NSW Teachers Federation and the Public Principals Forum for his lack of experience in teaching and education and his criminal conviction as a heroin trafficker.
The Teachers Federation also questioned his criminal past and time spent in prison for heroin dealing ; with the Federation's president, Maree O'Halloran, saying that a teacher with his criminal conviction for a serious drug offence would be unable to continue teaching and working with children.
Appointing him as Director-General of the Department of Finance and Services in April 2011, the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said that Coutts-Trotter's skills would allow this new department to deliver on its results. It was reported in July 2013, upon his appointment to lead the Department of Family and Community Services, that Coutts-Trotter's new role was a demotion. Following the report O'Farrell held a media conference to reject the suggestion.
In 2013, Coutts-Trotter was made a national fellow of the Institute of Public Administration of Australia.
Personal life
Coutts-Trotter matriculated from Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and the University of Technology, Sydney, with a degree in journalism.
Coutts-Trotter is married to Tanya Plibersek MP, a Labor politician and the federal Deputy Leader of the Opposition.