It would appear Scott Morrison is already in election mode.
In a parliamentary week overshadowed by talk of by-elections, and even an early national vote, the treasurer was honing his attack on Labor with a campaign-style stunt.
It could take months for the High Court to determine if Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is eligible to remain in the parliament - after he found out he was New Zealander - leaving the government's one-seat majority in the balance.
Whether it was an attempted distraction or fearing the worst, Morrison burst into the week claiming families and small business would feel the brunt of a $167 billion tax hit under a Labor government.
Favoured media outlets were given what was claimed to be "independent new modelling" - but in essence was a compilation of year-old Parliamentary Budget Office costings and Treasury projections - of Labor's "tax blizzard".
"Under Bill Shorten, there would be a tax winter coming to this country," Morrison warned in a Game of Thrones-style threat.
The treasurer's figuring included Labor's rejection of the government's $65 billion 10-year business tax plan, including a repeal of tax cuts already approved by parliament.
Morrison's hit list also includes $32 billion from "scrapping negative gearing", but doesn't mention the tax break would apply to new properties and existing arrangements will be protected from the change.
Then there were the $20 billion of "secret" Labor superannuation changes, along with alterations to capital gains tax, family trusts and the top marginal tax rate
The PBO wasn't impressed, insisting it had no part in the so-called modelling.
In a rare political intervention, agency head Jenny Wilkinson said: "The analysis reported in the media this morning was not conducted by the PBO."
While the government continued to talk about Labor's $150 billion-plus tax grab as a fact, the opposition dismissed it as a desperate scare campaign.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the parliamentary term was barely a year old and the treasurer has been reduced to making stuff up.
It's reminiscent of previous election stunts.
During the 2016 election, Morrison drew banner headlines claiming Labor had a $67 billion "black hole" in its costings that would increase to a staggering $200 billion over the next decade.
But in a media conference that was meant to push home the point, the treasurer admitted $35 billion was flexible if the opposition changed its mind on some measures.
Suddenly the $67 billion became a worst-case scenario.
Labor is no innocent, having been previously caught over-egging numbers.
In the 2013 election, Labor claimed there was a $10 billion hole in the coalition's proposed election savings, citing figures from Treasury, Finance and the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Later it was revealed the analysis was based on earlier work by the departments.
In an extraordinary move, the heads of Treasury and Finance distanced themselves from Labor's statements, saying they had never assessed any coalition policies.
Some things never change, unlike the heritage of parliamentarians, apparently.
