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The internet’s best reactions to Budget 2015

Ebony Bowden
May 13, 2015, updated May 13, 2015

“Debt and deficit disaster”. “A strong, safe and prosperous future for all Australians”. “Have a go”.

You could be forgiven for switching off amid the torrent of 2015 Federal Budget buzz words.

And if your attention lapsed, you’re not alone.

• The most brutal post-budget interviews
• BONGIORNO: A budget to save Joe’s bacon
• Budget analysis: ‘Promising fairness, delivering incompetence’

For the past week, social media has been awash with memes of Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott, photos of a tree in Canberra and the surprise appearance of “selfie girl”.

If you’re tired of hearing about the debt disaster, then read on for some of the lighter commentary.

#askCormann

Ahead of Finance Minister Mathias Cormann’s brutal post-budget interview on Lateline, the ABC put a call out on Twitter for users to send in questions with the hashtag #askCormann.

You can guess what happened next.

Some made the most of the opportunity to ask questions about foreign aid cuts, but most people just wanted to know where their spare house keys were or if they should buy a Chrysler.

Hockey’s easel gets hijacked

Multinational tax avoidance is tricky business. There’s overseas tax havens and even a technique called the “Double Irish Dutch Sandwich”.

Naturally, Mr Hockey was going to need a nifty graphic for his press conference on the government’s new tax avoidance measures.

It wasn’t long before cunning and cruel Twitter users began making their own mock ups of the Treasurer’s easel.

Even Greens co-deputy leader Scott Ludlam got in on the act.

Budget tree

Like clockwork at Federal Budget time, the ‘budget tree’ in Parliament House turns a symbolic flaming red before shedding its leaves soon after.

This year, press gallery journalists flooded Twitter with photos of the tree and speculated about what kind of tree it was, whether it “metaphorically” shed its leaves after the budget and if it felt “budget-tree” pressure.

Well played, guys.

“Selfie girl”

Poor Joe Hockey.

The Treasurer has been besieged by rumours Social Services Minister Scott Morrison is angling for his job, while punters speculated how much of a stuff-up the budget would be.

It was hard not to grin along with the Treasurer then when Year 11 student Anika Buining crashed his pre-budget address outside Parliament House for a selfie.

Mr Hockey insisted the photo-op with Anika (dubbed “selfie girl” by the Treasurer’s office) wasn’t a set up, and that he didn’t want to be “like Kevin Rudd”, but clearly relished the attention.

Never one to be left out, independent Senator Jacqui Lambie got her own selfie wiht Mr Hockey on Wednesday morning.

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