Amid warnings of looming economic Armageddon, the crashing of broken promises and the clamour of politicians scrambling for the high ground, a clear loser is emerging: Australia's dominant parties.
With the Liberals and Labor also tarred by widening scandals their credibility has fallen almost to zero, opening the door to smaller rivals increasingly seen as alternative brokers.
Last year's Senate vote brought this home as micro-parties representing a bewildering range of causes filled metre-long ballot papers and brought chaos to the final selection of the new Upper House that will begin sitting in July.
In response, the Liberals and Labor have formed a rare coalition to push for electoral reform to squeeze most of the micros out of contention.
The majors argue that the present system that allows micros winning only tiny fractions of the vote to gain Senate seats is bad for democracy.
The micros argue that the big parties are really worried because it is bad for them.
"The rules, the electoral laws as they now stand, were brought in by the major parties," Victorian Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan said. "When it goes their way it's all well and good, but when it's somebody else that gets a seat at the table it's a travesty."
And Liberal and Labor face a resurgent Green vote and the emergence of mining magnate Clive Palmer's United Party, which will hold the balance of power in the Upper House and which is expanding into state parliaments.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has not helped the cause since winning power last September.
He has wavered and backflipped on policy, targeted the weak and vulnerable, spent much of his time castigating Labor rather than promoting a cohesive agenda, and terrified the nation with what he calls a "budget emergency".
His guidebook for this month's budget is the report of the commission of audit, which on Thursday presented a doomsday view of the national economy. It recommended a range of far-reaching reforms, many of which would be political suicide to introduce.
But it has provided Abbott with the justification for immediate, often ideological, remedies revolving around savage cuts to welfare, social, indigenous, environmental and other programmes and services.
Also under the gun are whole chunks of the federal bureaucracy, whose functions would be handed to the states.
Abbott has tried in advance to limit the political hit the Government will take from the budget by appealing to patriotism and assuring Australians the pain will be spread fairly: "This will not be a budget for the rich or the poor. It will be a budget for the country."
It will also contain, either immediately or for the longer term, a string of broken election promises. Despite pledges to the contrary, age pensions are in the firing line, costs will be imposed on previously free services and at least one new tax could be imposed to help pay off the deficit.
Family benefits and services for the unemployed are also targeted.
This comes as the slowing economy gathers mounting casualties.
The OECD says increasing poverty has trapped 14 per cent of the population - above the OECD average of 11 per cent - and one in 10 Australians cannot buy the food they need.
Soaring youth unemployment now stands at more than twice the national rate of 6 per cent. Housing has become unaffordable for low-income earners and the unemployed.
And in Sydney, the inquiry into corruption within State Government continues to entangle a growing number of senior Liberals, increasing the cynicism of voters.
Labor, with its own history of corrupt dealings and its recent record of power in Canberra, is equally as tarnished, reflected in the resurgence of the Greens and the gains of the Palmer United Party.
Three indigenous members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly have deserted the Government and joined PUP. If they win two more seats they will determine who governs in the NT.
In Queensland, where PUP holds two seats in the state Parliament, there are persistent rumours of a coalition with charismatic federal MP Bob Katter's Australian Party, which has three seats. An alliance would bring it within striking distance of Labor as the official opposition, a prospect both major parties find disturbing.