Milton Orkopoulos (born 22 July 1957) is an Australian former state politician and convicted sex offender. A member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
from 1999 to 2006, Orkopoulos was appointed
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship in August 2005.
In November 2006,
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
dismissed him as a Minister and of a member of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
after he was charged with child sex and other offences. The following week, he resigned as MP for the state electorate of
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
. On 14 March 2008, Orkopoulos was convicted on charges relating to child sex offences and the supply of drugs. In May 2008, he was sentenced to 13 years 9 months in jail.
Early life
Orkopoulos, an Australian of Greek descent briefly trained as a
nurse
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...
before studying
arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
at the
University of Newcastle, though he did not graduate. He went on to work for
BHP
BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
and as an electorate officer for MPs
Peter Morris,
Don Bowman and
Jill Hall
Jill Griffiths Hall (born 16 November 1949) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives, from 1998 until 2016, representing the seat of Shortland, New South Wales for the Labor Party. S ...
. He married and had a child.
Political career
From 1995 until 1999, Orkopoulos represented the ALP on
Lake Macquarie City Council
The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is ...
. In March 1999, he was elected to represent Swansea in the Legislative Assembly for Labor, and joined the
Socialist Left faction. In August 2005, he was promoted to the front bench, serving in the low-profile portfolios of Aboriginal Affairs and Citizenship.
[
Former NSW Premier, ]Nathan Rees
Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...
, served as his Chief of Staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
before joining the staff of Premier Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
in 2006.
Criminal history
On 5 November 2006, police minister John Watkins was informed by police commissioner Ken Moroney
Kenneth Edward Moroney, (born 15 September 1945) is a former police officer who served as the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force from 2002 until 2007.
Personal life
Born in the inner-Sydney suburb of Glebe, New South Wales, Moron ...
that Orkopoulos was about to be charged with child sex offences. Moroney later explained that the Orkopoulos case "is an issue that would be discussed in the normal course of events between us." The call, which resulted in the premier's office knowing that the arrest of a senior colleague was imminent, raised questions as to the political independence of the New South Wales Police
The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...
. Legal commentator Richard Ackland
Richard Alan Ackland is an Australian journalist, publisher and lawyer, who has won many awards for his reporting.
Ackland graduated with degrees in economics and law in the early 1970s and was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of ...
wrote in the ''Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' that "I can't think of a solid reason why third parties should be told by the police that they are about to nab someone important."
On 7 November 2006, Orkopoulos was arrested and charged with 30 offences including involvement in child prostitution, sexual assault and supplying illegal drugs. He was charged among other things with assaulting two underage boys and a third young male, and using taxpayers' money to pay a teenage boy to have sex with him.
Premier Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
immediately sacked him from Cabinet, and he was also expelled from the Labor Party. Orkopoulos denied the charges but indicated that he would not contest his Swansea electorate at the 2007 state election. He resigned from parliament on 13 November 2006 and reportedly attempted suicide the next day.
The government also passed legislation to suspend or remove parliamentary pension entitlements for any member who resigns when charged with serious crimes prior to the resolution of charges. The provisions of the legislation permitted it to be applied retrospectively to Orkopoulos.
Further charges were laid against Orkopoulos on 16 April 2007. On 14 March 2008, he was found guilty of 28 offences relating to sexual assault of a minor, indecent assault and supplying heroin and cannabis. On 21 May 2008, Orkopoulos was sentenced to 13 years and 11 months in jail, with a non-parole period of 9 years and 3 months. In March 2009, he lodged a challenge against his conviction in the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal. On 25 August 2009, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal rejected Orkopoulos' appeal against his conviction but reduced his maximum sentence to 13 years and eight months (instead of the 13 years and 11 months sentence by the trial court) with a non-parole period of nine years.
In January 2017, Orkopoulos' application for parole was refused on the grounds that he had failed to attend rehabilitation.
He was released on parole in late December 2019. The conditions of his release included being electronically monitored and not approaching his victims. In January 2020, while on parole, Orkopoulos was charged with two counts of failing to meet his reporting obligations.He pleaded guilty to those offences and avoided a prison term when his lawyer, Omar Juweinat pointed out an anomaly in the sentencing laws. On 15 June 2020, Orkopoulos was arrested and questioned by NSW Police over further historical sex offence allegations.
See also
* Child sexual abuse in Australia
Child sexual abuse is a matter of concern in Australia, and is the subject of investigation and prosecution under the law, and of academic study into the prevalence, causes and social implications.
Prevalence
According to a report that recorded t ...
* List of Australian criminals
This is a list of Australian people who have been convicted of serious crimes. See demography of Australia.
Bank robbers
Australians convicted of bank robbery:
* Brenden Abbott (born 1962), known as the Postcard Bandit
* Darcy Dugan (1920– ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orkopoulos, Milton
1957 births
Living people
21st-century Australian criminals
Australian drug traffickers
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Australian people convicted of child sexual abuse
Australian people convicted of indecent assault
Australian people of Greek descent
Australian politicians convicted of crimes
Australian prisoners and detainees
Criminals from New South Wales
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Australian people convicted of drug offences
Politicians convicted of sex offences
Place of birth missing (living people)
Prisoners and detainees of New South Wales
University of Newcastle (Australia) alumni
21st-century Australian politicians
Crime in Oceania
Sexual violence in Oceania