The new Director General was a Heroin addict, a Criminal and spent years in jail for importing illegal drugs and was a drug dealer ... He now has the parental responsibility for our stolen children OMG.
His degree is in Jouralism probably where he met his friend Pru Goward so together they can spin the media against us. More research reveals that this guy was kicked out of the DG position of Education because of his criminal history which would not allow him to even be a teacher and it was decided he was a poor role model for children as head of the Education system ... so now he has been dumped the DOCS top Job.
Does he even have a clearence to work with children? It appears not!
Schools boss in drug inquiry
- The Daily Telegraph
- April 11, 2007
THE state's new top educator Michael Coutts-Trotter is being screened for his suitability to work with children due to a criminal conviction for a serious drugs offence.
Formally appointed Education Director-General yesterday, Mr Coutts-Trotter told The Daily Telegraph it was ``utterly legitimate in the public interest'' for questions to be asked about his criminal background.
Have your say on whether Coutts-Trotter's past should matter. Tell us in feedback box below, and vote in our poll on thehomepage.
The new D-G spent three years in jail after being convicted as a young man in 1986 on a charge related to a heroin distribution racket.
After his release he turned his life around in a remarkable story of rehabilitation, working as chief of staff for former treasurer Michael Egan in the Carr government and later becoming commerce director-general.
Married to federal Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek, Mr Coutts-Trotter replaces Andrew Cappie-Wood who spent three years as director-general.
Mr Coutts-Trotter, who has a daughter in Year 1 at a local public school, said he expected the security clearance for his new role to take about four days.
``I don't present a risk to children ... I was convicted in 1986 of a serious drugs offence, arrested in 1984 as a 19-year-old,'' he said.
``I have declared I am not a prohibited person, and I am not because there is no crime of violence or crime against a child (and) there are no apprehended violence orders.
``I would have no objections if a third party wanted to look at the process by which whatever decision is made.
``People need to have confidence that it is done impartially ... and I wait on that process.''
Mr Coutts-Trotter said he held a security clearance from the Commonwealth and was a member of ASIO's counter-terrorist sub-committee.
In 1995 he told The Daily Telegraph: ``As a teenager I did something very wrong. I faced the consequences of those actions and paid my debt in full.''
But yesterday Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner asked whether Mr Coutts-Trotter was the ``most appropriate person to be the Director-General of the Department of Education''.
``The public have a right to know if the job was advertised and what education credentials Mr Coutts-Trotter has,'' Mr Stoner said.
``The appointment of the head of the Education Department should be focused on the best interests of NSW children.
``Is this just another job for another Labor mate? If so, it's a gross insult to NSW teachers, parents and students.''
Mr Coutts-Trotter said he fully understood the concerns of school principals upset the State Government once again had not appointed an educator to the top job.
He said his main tasks would be to secure top quality teachers and get on top of the school maintenance backlog.
On Researching the New Director General for DOCS NSW the story gets worse and worse ... He was handed the DG of Education (the position was never advertised) absolutely a Job for the boys then he was thrown out of that in March because he new NOTHING about Education and put as DG of Finace and now DEMOTED to DG of DOCS today .....
First head rolls in NSW public service. It's an education
New South Wales' incoming Liberal government has decided to replace the state's director-general for education.
Michael Coutts-Trotter has a year remaining on his five-year contract. But Adrian Piccoli, NSW's new Education Minister, said the position needed to be advertised and filled by someone with a background in education.
The former minister, John Della-Bosca, parachuted Mr Coutts-Trotter into the job, which was not advertised, in April 2007.
Mr Piccoli said his decision to replace Mr Coutts-Trotter, who is married to federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, was not simply because of his close Labor connections.
''None of the criticism is about him personally,'' Mr Piccoli said. ''It's not about his Labor allegiance, although that is not very helpful.''
Mr Piccoli said his criticism centred on Mr Coutts-Trotter's focus on costs rather than education. ''The criticism is that the Department of Eucation has been run as a branch of Treasury, where it is all about the bottom line and not about students,'' he said.
Mr Piccoli said Mr Coutts-Trotter's handling of the Building the Education Revolution program, which provided $2.7 billion in funding for new buildings in NSW public schools had been strongly criticised. His decision to centralise supply procurement for schools was also controversial. Many schools have complained that they were prevented from buying cheaper supplies from local businesses.
The appointment of a new director-general would be made with the assistance of a new public service commissioner, announced, but as yet unnamed, by incoming Premier Barry O'Farrell before the election.
It is rumoured that Premier O'Farrell is likely to appoint Mr Coutts-Trotter to another department within the public service.
Public Service Association general secretary Steve Turner said Mr Coutts-Trotter was being punished for his political connections. He said the Education Department ''needs to be run by administrators, not [educationists]''. ''It's about running the biggest department in the southern hemisphere,'' Mr Turner said.
Mr Coutts-Trotter, whose only formal qualification is a journalism degree, was in charge of Australia's largest education bureaucracy, overseeing almost 100,000 people.
He was previously director-general of the NSW Department of Commerce after a period as chief-of-staff to former treasurer Michael Egan. Mr Coutts-Trotter's rise through the public service since starting work for Mr Egan as a press secretary in 1996 is even more remarkable because he is a rehabilitated drug addict; he served two years and nine months of a nine-year jail sentence for selling heroin.
After his release from jail, Mr Coutts-Trotter entered a Salvation Army drug rehabilitation program and completed his journalism degree at the University of Technology, Sydney. He joined the public relations firm Fox Communications before becoming the treasurer's press secretary.
Mr Coutts-Trotter declined to comment.Should the next director general of education have a background in education ?
theage.com.
Why would the Liberals allow the bureaucrats who failed NSW under Labor to fail again?
The NSW bureaucracy's power networks lead to the traditional owners of Sussex Street - Labor.
It was a stupid decision by Barry O'Farrell to keep people who failed NSW under Labor in place as heads of department - after he was elected with a mandate to fix the joint up.
There was no more controversial government appointment than Labor's appointment of the former prisoner Michael Coutts-Trotter as Director General of the NSW Department of Education and Training by the Carr Government in 2007.
The Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran said at the time that a teacher with his background would be unable to continue teaching. She was referring to his conviction on conspiracy to import heroin and 9 year gaol sentence.
In February 2010 just before O'Farrell's landslide election win I spoke to Jeff Kennett about the wisdom or otherwise of keeping the deparment heads in place if you want to change the place. O'Farrell had told me he was in no hurry to move them on - a position the relaxed and comfortable Barry O'Farrell has confirmed by his actions since the election. Now 2 and a half years later the deck chairs get a re-shuffle.
Here's the report from the Daily Telegraph
GREG Pearces Director-General Michael Coutts-Trotter has been demoted following a major reshuffle of departmental heads.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Coutts-Trotter – the husband of Federal Minister Tanya Plibersek – announced to senior staff this morning that he would be leaving the Department of Financial Services to head up the Department of Families and Community Services portfolio.
It is the first major shakeup of the public service since Premier Barry O’Farrell was elected two-and-a-half years ago.
Mr Coutts-Trotter is the only department head to be moved twice, having previously been moved into finance from the education portfolio in 2011.
It’s understood the government will now advertise for a new head of the Attorney-General’s departmen (after the former head Mr Glanfield was moved in to replace Coutts-Trotter).
Mr Glanfield has been criticised for influencing Attorney-General Greg Smith to take a too lenient approach on law and order issues.
Mr Coutts-Trotter replaces Jim Moore, who was stood aside after being arrested by police over an alleged domestic assault last month.
michaelsmithnews.com