Query over driving test organised by Transport Minister Troy Buswell for his son TRANSPORT minister Troy Buswell has come under fire after admitting he directed his staff to help arrange a practical driving assessment for his son. The Sunday Times revealed yesterday that the State Opposition will use Thursday's Budget Estimates hearings to get further details about the "highly unusual" driving test Mr Buswell arranged in October last year. Mr Buswell refused to answer questions put to him by The Sunday Times last week, but today admitted to reporters that he had made the request because he had "sat on the phone for hours and hours trying to get an assessment and was unable to get through." Mr Buswell said members of the public were also able to call on his office to contact the department on their behalf. Today, he told PerthNow there was no 'special arrangement' for his son. "I reject any suggestion that I was involved in directing the department how to use their resources," he said in a statement. My office made a request to the Department of Transport after I could not make a booking with DoT's call centre, despite attempts to do so. The booking and how it was arranged operationally was entirely at the discretion of DoT. The Department scheduled that test approximately four weeks later. It was one of 62 assessments in Busselton in 2012 and one of 11 sole assessments conducted by a Regional Transport Officer who is based in Busselton. Furthermore, advice from the Department of Transport is that it is not uncommon in regional areas for sole driving assessments to occur, or for them to be conducted by RTOs rather than driving assessors. Mr Buswell said that his ministerial office regularly assisted members of the public who experienced difficult booking a driving test. "In 2012, my office contacted the Department of Transport regarding driving tests on 51 occasions on behalf of people who experienced difficulty booking a driving test," he said. Twenty-seven of those requests were made by MP's electorate offices on behalf of constituents, including eight from Opposition MPs. In the first six months of this year, my office has referred 60 enquiries on practical driving assessments to the Department. Premier Colin Barnett defended Mr Buswell's actions, saying he was a father as well as a minister. Opposition accuses Minister of queue-jumping Opposition transport spokesman Ken Travers said today that Mr Buswell had abused his position as a minister by "jumping the queue" for a family member. He said Mr Buswell had directed his staff to contact the Department of Transport, which resulted in a senior staff member in Perth organising a "special arrangement." "What occurred in Busselton on the 12th of October 2012 was not normal run-of-the-mill behaviour for the Department of Transport," Mr Travers said. On the day in question, the normal driving assessors in Busselton were located and conducting tests in Margaret River. There normally would not have been a practical driving assessment undertaken in Busselton. It was as a result of the intervention by the Minister's office at his direction that results in this test being put in place. Mr Travers called on the Transport Minister to release details of other examples of his office putting in place special arrangements for frustrated parents. "Every parent in Western Australia that has sat on the phone waiting to try and get an appointment has suffered the same frustration that he has, but they don't have the option that Mr Buswell resorted to," he told reporters today. Let people call 6552 6440 and see how many parents can get a special arrangement put in place for their child. Mr Travers said the incident was a test for Premier Colin Barnett. "He needs to make it clear what are his ministerial standards," he said. (Mr Buswell) should not be able to, as a minister, get a special arrangement put in place for his son. If this is such a normal way of behaving...why did it take an article in the media where he refused to comment for him to finally offer this as his defence? This is an abuse of the ministerial code of conduct.