Government said yesterday it followed parliamentary rules “to the letter” when it changed the law to make parents more responsible for their children's education before it published new school rules.

Acting Education Minister Senator Michael Scott rejected Opposition claims Government acted “secretly and in bad faith” by not making public the new school rules before the law was changed.

MPs last month changed the law to allow parents to be sent on parenting classes and be fined $200 if they break school rules by not taking an active enough involvement in their child's education.

The new school rules were not tabled in the House of Assembly before the legislation was passed, leading Shadow Education Minister Neville Darrell to claim Government was “subverting free and open discussion on the rules”.

But yesterday, Sen Scott said Government followed “to the letter” parliamentary procedure, which prohibited the rules being tabled before the law was amended.

“It is mischievous and inappropriate to attempt to score political points by misleading the public in this manner,” said Sen. Scott yesterday.

“This (passing legislation first) is the procedure that must be followed before the entire contents of the Rules can be released. It is inexcusable for the Opposition spokesman to make such accusations before he had his facts correct.

“In fact, if he had called the Clerk to the Legislature and asked what the procedure was, it would have been explained to him. It is disingenuous to suggest that the Minister of Education Paula Cox intended to subvert the free and open discussion of the rules on parental responsibility.”