As state and territory leaders emerged from crisis budget talks in Sydney, it was hard to tell which side of the political divide they were from.
Labor and conservative leaders stood side-by-side and slammed the Abbott coalition government for its "unacceptable" funding cuts to their states.
They've been fuming ever since federal Treasurer Joe Hockey handed down his budget last week, which stripped $80 billion in school and hospital funding to the states.
"These cuts are firmly and unequivocally rejected," Queensland's Liberal National (LNP) Premier Campbell Newman told reporters after the emergency talks in Sydney.
Mr Newman even put party politics to one side and called on Queenslanders to lobby the LNP against the cuts.
"Pick up the phone tomorrow morning, send an email to your local (federal) LNP member or senator and let them know that you're concerned about this," he said.
NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird had a blunt message for the federal government and his occasional surfing buddy Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"We cannot absorb these cuts ... this cannot proceed," he said after the meeting.
In case anyone missed it, South Australia's Labor Premier Jay Weatherill pointed out that conservative state leaders were slamming a conservative federal government.
"Tony Abbott and the federal Liberal government have united the nation against these cuts - they've even managed to unite a group of chief ministers and premiers," he said.
ACT Chief Minister Kate Gallagher said she has never seen state and territory leaders more unified during her time in office.
"People are pretty angry and I can't see any backing away from those positions," she said.
Despite the strong comments of condemnation against the federal cuts, the leaders failed to come up with any concrete ways of delivering more revenue to them.
Instead, after more than two hours of talks, they emerged with a call to hold another meeting - this time, with the federal government - and called for the Federation white paper to be sped up.
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