In early 1990s Michael Coutts-Trotter started 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’.
The Usher of the Black Rod, Warren Cahill, escorts then-Treasurer the Hon Michael Egan from the chamber to the footpath of Macquarie St in 1996
He described that support in that moment as “literally life-changing.” Michael CT always stood out as he is 193cm tall, even taller than Media Dragon. Michael had a knack for sharing colourful stories, just like his boss Michael Egan …
AN architect of the state government's industrial relations reforms is Michael Coutts-Trotter, the husband of federal Labor minister Tanya Plibersek and a former chief-of-staff to Labor treasurer Michael Egan.
Michael Coutts-Trotter's journey from drug smuggler to head of the justice system
He is one of the most senior bureaucrats in NSW, in charge of the state's court system and prisons. He's married to Tanya Plibersek, one of Labor's most prominent and powerful figures. He is also a convicted heroin smuggler.
‘Everything we now believe’: Mandarin cites emperor after demotion by Premier Minns
On the day of his demotion from being NSW’s top bureaucrat, Michael Coutts-Trotter quoted Roman emperors, cited German philosophers and assured shocked public servants that the new government was not sending in the “corporate raiders”.
And in leaked audio of a speech to staff, Coutts-Trotter left open the possibility that he could return to the top job, telling staff he was “anticipating the possibility of a return”.
New Premier Chris Minns announced on Friday that Coutts-Trotter – who is the head of the powerful Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) – had been demoted, and would instead become treasury secretary on an interim basis ahead of Labor’s first state budget.
It came after The Sydney Morning Herald revealed three other department secretaries – Rob Sharp in transport, Paul Grimes in treasury and Georgina Harrisson in education – had all been sacked as the incoming Labor government swung the axe across the public service. All three will receive a payout of about $400,000.
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In an email to Department of Premier and Cabinet staff on Friday, Coutts-Trotter, a respected public servant who is married to federal Labor minister Tanya Plibersek, quoted Roman emperor Claudius as he sought to reassure staff.
“At the risk of sounding too high-minded, recall the words of Claudius: ‘Everything we now believe to be the essence of tradition was a novelty once’,” he wrote.
“I know that change can be hard [but] things change, we change with them, but our fundamental job remains the same: serving the people of NSW the best we can.”
Minns said on Friday that he was undecided on whether Coutts-Trotter would remain in the treasury job beyond the June budget, and in a separate speech to staff on Friday, audio of which was obtained by the Herald, Coutts-Trotter joked he was being sent “abacus in hand” to Treasury.
Despite his demotion, Coutts-Trotter said he had a “profound affection” for the Treasury Department and complimented new Treasurer Daniel Mookhey as “strong”.
“You really have the prospect of a strong government,” he said.
New NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced that women make up 50 per cent of his cabinet.
However, Coutts-Trotter also left open the possibility that he could return to the top job.
“It’s not a final goodbye,” he said in his speech. “It’s definitely I’ll see you later. Because I don’t know. Because the premier hasn’t decided whether he wants me to stay there beyond an initial three-month assignment or not. I’m acting over there. And I may act my way back here.
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“I’m going to pack some boxes. I’m not going to take many of them with me. I’m going to leave quite a lot in storage, anticipating the possibility of a return”.
The reorganisation of the public service announced by Minns on Friday will see DPC abolished and replaced by two separate agencies – a new Cabinet Office and Premier’s Department.
The new agency structure is modelled off former premiers Nick Greiner and Bob Carr.
In the speech, Coutts-Trotter said Minns had “grown up in a political culture that really came of age” during the Carr government.
“The head of the Cabinet Office would walk around with ... books of German philosophy poking out of his coat pocket and the head of premiers’ would walk around looking like he’d slept in a bin overnight, smoking cigarettes and getting shit done.”
Minns on Friday announced veteran former public servant Peter Duncan would become the interim head of the public service charged with setting up the two new agencies, and Coutts-Trotter assured staff he was a “decent human being” with a “genuine commitment, affection for respect of public sector values”.
“So it’s not as if a corporate raider’s coming in to, you know, sort of asset strip the place,” he said.