Sometimes these pieces are offered to us and we decide to publish only online, in print and online or not at all - depending on the timeliness or if it is repetitive material.

The comment by Jeremy Rockliff was not a new topic, but offered a new angle. Many opinions have been expressed over our pages for the better half of 2018 and all of 2019 relating to the public service pay dispute.

Last year schools were forced to close for the morning due to stop work action by the Australian Education Union. At the time the state government encouraged families to discuss with the school's what would be happening that day and to learn more about why the school would be closed. The unions also encouraged the same conversations.

However, in the opinion published on Friday, Mr Rockliff directly told families to chat with teachers about the government's wage offer.

"I encourage families to discuss the government’s offer with your children’s teacher and encourage them to accept what is a very genuine offer," he said.

This is quite a staggering direction to take.

Parents and guardians should be communicating regularly with the teachers responsible for the education of their children. But it should be about the child's development, what concerns they may have, what the child is succeeding in and what worries there may be, and how the child interacts with others in the classroom or playground.

To request the parents to be telling teachers to take the deal on offer from the government should not be a priority of the Education Minister. At present, there is no union action affecting classrooms.

Yes, it would be frustating that the union is not taking the offer to members to vote. They should do so.

But this fight over conditions should not be waged in the classroom or by the parents nor should the line be blurred by asking parents to tell teachers what pay to accept.