Dark past of Michael Coutts-Trotter, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s new right hand man
He was the surprise pick of new Premier Dominic Perrottet for a key role in NSW. And he has an incredible story of redemption.
A teenage heroin addict who went to jail for nearly three years in some of the nation’s toughest prisons before marrying fedeeral Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has been appointed to the top job of running NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s department.
Michael Coutts-Trotter, 56, a respected senior public servant, will be appointed to the role of Secretary of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.
His incredible story has long been regarded in NSW as a powerful example of redemption and success after spending his early twenties in Long Bay jail.
When he was appointed to run the state’s prisons two years ago it was an issue he tackled head on with a note to staff.
“There’s one thing I want to tell you about myself,” he wrote.
“You may know it already. But, if not, I want you to hear it from me first.
“As a teenager I used and supplied drugs. In 1984 I was imprisoned for conspiracy to import heroin.
“Addiction helped to explain my crime, but it didn’t excuse it. I deserved to go to prison.”
Mr Coutts-Trotter has previously described watching a stabbed inmate running across a yard at Bathurst clutching his stomach so his intestines didn’t fall out of his body. He also reported watching a young man stumble out of his cells after a gang rape.
Despite spending months in maximum security, he has previously told The Daily Mail he never sought protective custody.
“In the culture of the time you were a dog if you went into protection and there was some pride in the fact that you could make a go of it in the main population,” he said.
“I was just unbelievably lucky to not get hurt.
“I saw people brutally bashed in a cell with a wooden stool in CIP. In Bathurst I saw someone running across the yard trying to hold their intestines back into their stomach cavity.
“I saw a kid stagger out of a cell in Parramatta who’d just been gang raped. Lots and lots of fights that ended with two, three, four, people piling on one person.”
He was also forced to fend for himself in a prison community that included one of the men who raped and murdered nurse Anita Cobby, who he was once involved in a scuffle with over who could use a telephone.
At the time of his arrest when he was 19, he was 193cm tall and weighed just 50kg.
“Drug addiction is an explanation but it’s not an excuse,” Mr Coutts-Trotter said.
“There was still a choice - choices - that I made along the way that I could have made differently.
“Quite sincerely, I deserved to go to jail for those choices. I made choices that were not driven solely by my addiction. I could have been a small time supplier rather than seeking to be a larger supplier. That’s a choice.”
Mr Coutts-Trotter attended St Ignatius College, Riverview on a scholarship as a teenager and has blamed the death of his father during this period as one of the issues that sent him off the rails.
He said he was “lucky” that he was allowed to enter rehab and get clean before he entered prison.
“When I say I was lucky, I mean I was really lucky. I was given bail and the police were prepared to extend bail while I was in rehab and making some changes,” he said.
He admits he is lucky he wasn’t caught overseas - or he would be dead.
“Conspiracy to import heroin - half a kilo of heroin - is an offence that carries the death penalty in at least 13 or 14 countries,” he said.
“And my conspiracy involved the importation of heroin from Thailand. If I’d been arrested in Thailand and not in Australia it’s quite possible we would not be talking to each other because I would not be alive.”
After he left prison Mr Coutts-Trotter completed a university degree and met Ms Plibersek.
But in the early years he struggled to obtain security clearances because of his history of drug addiction.
His first job after university with Labor deputy prime minister Brian Howe was derailed when ASIO would not provide him with security clearances.
He later went to work for a Labor Treasurer Michael Egan, who backed him after a Sunday newspaper put his criminal past on the front page.
“He just dashed out there and said, ‘Look, this bloke was a teenage scumbag but he’s doing a good job for me, he deserves a second chance and he’s not going anywhere’,’’ Mr Coutt-Trotter said.
He described that support in that moment as “literally life-changing.”
“He could have played it a different way - he didn’t. He just stuck with me and gave me a go,” he said.
When he was appointed as the NSW Director-General of the Education Department in 2007, his past returned to haunt him again but he said his life story was a reminder that redemption was possible.
“To a degree we all make mistakes in life, mine was far more significant than a mistake anyone here will ever make. But you can’t carry it around like a ball and chain forever,’’ he said.
“And that’s true of me. Redemption is possible, a second chance is possible.”
“You can say you will end up, you can end up in jail, it will be a terrible experience for you, but equally if you’re lucky enough you can get a second chance.”
More recently, his appointment to run by the Justice Department was opposed by prison officers.
2GB radio host Ray Hadley backed him, saying he deserved a second chance.
“I think he’s a good bloke. He’s made mistakes in the past, has been rehabilitated, and now is a very productive member of our community,’’ Hadley said.
Hadley today praised Mr Coutts-Trotter’s appointment to run the Premier’s Department, describing him as a “man of substance”.
“All of that’s ancient history … Michael rehabilitated himself a lifetime ago,” Hadley said.
“I don’t care who he’s married to.
“He’s now valued by not just Labor governments … but also by Liberal governments as being the best of the best when it comes to the job he does.”
Michael Coutts-Trotter told Hadley that he respected the work prison officers did and that his time in prison was a reminder that there are dangerous people who should be in prison.
He was hand-picked for the top job by Mr Perrottet after Gladys Berejiklian’s own choice Jim Betts, was fired from the $644,850-a-year job before he even started in favour of Mr Perrottet’s personal pick for the job.
Mr Perrottet has built a strong relationship with Mr Coutts-Trotter in his previous roles.
“I am very pleased Michael has agreed to head the Department of Premier and Cabinet at this critical time, and I am looking forward to working closely with him as we continue to build a better future for NSW,” Mr Perrottet said.
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“Michael’s dedication to serving the people of NSW is something I have long admired, he will bring tremendous experience, humility and energy to what is a very important and challenging position.”
Last night, his eldest daughter Anna, linked to stories detailing her father’s triumph over heroin addiction and his new appointment.
“So proud of my Dad,” she said.
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