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

The Murdoch papers sharpened their sickles and hammered Jim Chalmers’ budget for ‘the most radical redistribution of wealth since the Whitlam era’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter here 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 federa