Michael Coutts-Trotter has risen from the “depths of despair” as a teenager to be appointed to the NSW bureaucracy’s most senior position, in spite of critics.

Ray Hadley defended the new Secretary of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, who was once jailed on drug charges and is married to senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, as a “man of substance”.

“All of that’s ancient history … Michael rehabilitated himself a lifetime ago.

“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.

“He’s proven over years and years and years of service that regardless of who he’s married to, he’s a top operator.”

Press PLAY below to hear Ray’s comments in full