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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Amanda Meade

A Zara dress, the Jim Reaper and a communist state: how Australia’s media interpreted the budget

A composite of newspaper front pages
How Australia’s newspapers covered the 2026 federal budget Composite: The Daily Telegraph/Herald Sun/The Courier Mail/The Sydney Morning Herald/The Australian/The West Australian/The Age/The Nightly

The voters of New South Wales woke up in a communist state on Wednesday – at least according to the Daily Telegraph, which claimed that “Lying Jim” Chalmers was cackling like the devil as he gouged them with big taxes in the federal budget.

To underline this apparent sharp turn to the left, the Tele added a red hammer and sickle and used a red background.

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