Senate stunned as crossbench brokers surprise deal in a single afternoon
Weeks of gridlock unravelled in under three hours behind a locked committee-room door.
Nobody expected the standoff to end this way. By lunchtime, the Senate was still deadlocked. By afternoon tea, a compromise text was circulating that nobody had seen 24 hours earlier.
The deal, brokered by three independent senators, threads the needle between the Government's tax package and demands from regional MPs for expanded infrastructure spend.
How it happened
Sources describe a series of increasingly candid back-room conversations, at least one of which reportedly involved a whiteboard, a packet of biscuits, and a raised voice.
"Everyone had to move," one staffer told us. "There was no other way out of the room."
The Prime Minister called the outcome "a win for common sense." The Opposition Leader called it "a stitch-up." Both will spend the weekend selling their version to voters.
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