Chloe Shorten's mysterious disappearing gold necklace
So why did Chloe Shorten remove her necklace during husband bill's budget reply speech, and how much did it cost?
These were the hot questions doing the rounds at Parliament House on Thursday night, almost overshadowing Labor's response to the government's 2017-18 budget.
As Mr Shorten accused the government of serving up a budget that catered for Australia's well-off, his wife Chloe's glistening necklace caught the eye of observers in parliament.
She then removed the necklace about 30 minutes into the speech.
Many believed the necklace was very expensive, but Labor sources said it wasn't and that it cost "around $25".
They claim she removed it because the clasp broke.
“It’s pathetic that Liberal MPs were texting journalists trying to get them to attack Chloe,” the source told news.com.au.
“The fact that the Libs are trying to make this the story, shows they know the Budget’s a flop. It’s grubby and speaks volumes about how the Liberal Party treats women.”
A spokeswoman for Lovisa told news.com.au the necklace is not from there.
However, it's still believed to have cost in the vicinity of $20.
Ms Shorten acknowledged the necklace comments on Twitter on Friday morning, explaining it is a $20 necklace.
Malcolm Turnbull was questioned about the drama by Samantha Armytage on Sunrise on Friday to which he replied that he hadn't taken notice.
"I don' know to be honest - I've seen the pictures of Mrs Shorten there but I was paying attention to the speech," he said.
