Treasurer Joe Hockey’s wife wears Carla Zampatti on Budget day

YOU can buy a $750 dress or you can go to the doctor 107 times under Hockey’s new measures. Is it a bad look for his wife to wear a frock valued at $750 on Budget day?

WHEN Treasurer Joe Hockey chopped up the Budget, he didn’t take a pair of scissors to his wife’s wardrobe.

Melissa Babbage, a successful banker in her own right, wore a Carla Zampatti dress valued at $750 for her Parliament appearance on Budget day. The snake-embossed stunning number is described as “elegantly cut to gently skim the figure” on the Australian designer’s website.

Ms Babbage shows off her expensive taste. Picture: Gary Ramage

With the new measures in Hockey’s Budget, the price tag amount could get you to the doctor’s 107 times when charged the new GP visit fee of $7 or you could pay the extra $5 charge on getting 150 prescriptions filled.

The dress that is out of reach for most Australians. Picture: Carla Zampatti

And if you are a public servant, it might be worthwhile chucking it in a high-interest savings account in case the day comes when you get the sack. The government is axing 16,500 jobs over the next three years.

Dress or doctor ... it’s your choice, Australia. Picture: Gary Ramage

We’d be dancing too if we could afford petrol. Picture: Gary Ramage

The self-made millionaire and former senior executive at Deutsche Bank married Treasurer Joe Hockey in 1994, and the couple have three kids together.

The spoils of life for Joe Hockey and his wife. Picture: Gary Ramage

The power couple have all the trimmings in life — a Hunters Hill house in Sydney, a Queensland cattle station, nannies for the children and the $2000 Thermomix machine that chops, dices, steams and promises to make asparagus risotto in 18 minutes.

“If we kiss maybe they won’t notice the dress’s price tag”. Picture: Gary Ramage

Abbott appreciates the effort. Picture: Gary Ramage

Originally published as Treasurer Joe Hockey’s wife wears Carla Zampatti on Budget day