Michael Coutts-Trotter

Michael Coutts-Trotter was appointed Director-General of the New South Wales Department of Education and Training in April 2007. He was director-general of the NSW Department of Commerce from 2004 to 2007, and chief of staff to the New South Wales Treasurer from 1998 to 2004. He is married to Tanya Plibersek, a Labor MP and the federal Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women.

His appointment as director-general was criticised by opposition members of Parliament, the NSW Teachers Federation and the Public Principals Forum for his lack of experience in teaching and education. He matriculated from Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and the University of Technology, Sydney, with a degree in journalism.

The Teachers Federation also questioned his criminal background; its president, Maree O'Halloran, saying that a teacher with his background would be unable to continue teaching. In 1986, at the age of 19, he was imprisoned for less than three years for conspiracy to import narcotics. At the time he was a heroin user following his father's death when he was a teenager. He recovered from his addiction through a Salvation Army program. He told the ABC in April 2007 that his criminal past made him more determined to do a good job.

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