Senator Christine Milne took over as Greens leader in April last year.
Many at the time predicted the departure of the party's long-time leader Bob Brown would lead to the Greens' demise.
But under Senator Milne's leadership, the Greens' profile has continued to rise.
The party's unprecedented power in the Senate and lower house has undoubtedly helped.
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Senator Milne now says the Greens will only become more relevant as time goes on
Christine Milne was born and bred in Tasmania's Wesley Vale.
Her family has deep roots in the area, stretching back to when they first began farming there in the 1880s.
One hundred years later, high school teacher Christine Milne made her first foray into environmental campaigning.
In 1983 she was arrested and jailed in an ultimately successful campaign to stop the Franklin Dam.
The environment remains Senator Milne's number one passion.
"I'm really proud of the fact that because people voted for the Greens in balance of power in both houses we now have a Clean Energy package in Australia. Not only do we have an emissions trading scheme that's legislated but we've got 10-billion (dollars) into renewable energy. We've got a carbon farming initiative, we've got a climate change authority capable of increasing our levels of ambition."
A few years after being arrested, Ms Milne was the mother of two boys and a self-described "housewife" when she led a campaign to block a proposed pulp mill in her home town.
The project became a key issue in Tasmania's 1989 state government campaign, and she became a candidate.
She won the seat and her life as a politician began.
As a Tasmanian MP Ms Milne campaigned hard to reform the state's sodomy laws and was branded "the mother of teenage sodomy" by one of the state's far-right MPs.
Now sixty years of age, Senator Milne remains a strong advocate for marriage equality and in 2012 the Greens proposed laws enabling same-sex marriage.
The 43rd Australian parliament has seen Senator Milne and the Greens obtain extraordinary political power.
The party has held the balance of power in the Senate and support from its single M-P in the lower house has been crucial in passing legislation.
The Labor minority government gained the Greens' support by committing to a range of demands - including the requirement that Labor hold referenda on recognising Indigenous Australians and local councils in the Constitution.
But earlier this year, the Greens officially split from Labor.
At the time Senator Milne accused Labor of siding with the mining industry in delivering a watered-down mining tax and making coal seam gas development easier.
She says the Greens are now the only ones serious about tackling climate change.
"The fact is we've now got a climate denier leading the opposition, a climate backflipper leading the Labor Party and the Greens standing strong for this generation and future generations saying 'let's get on with it, let's act on global warming, let's create the new industries, the jobs, the kind of innovative society that comes from acting on the climate.'"
Another big rift between Senator Milne and two major parties has emerged on the issue of asylum seekers.
The Greens want to see Australia take on more refugees and provide them with safer ways of getting to Australia.
Senator Milne also wants to see an end to overseas processing, with asylum seekers to be released into the community after being held for just 30 days for initial health, security and identity checks.
Work rights for asylum seekers and equal access to social security are also on Senator Milne's wish list.
She says there will come a time when the major parties will have to answer for their harsh treatment of refugees, especially children fleeing persecution.
"In ten or fifteen years' time when there's a national apology for the cruelty, for the mental anguish, for the torture that's gone on to children we'll have to explain why they stood there and voted for that cruelty in a fully informed way, it is just a disgrace."
Senator Milne has also overseen a change in the positioning of the Greens party.
For the first time, the party has released a fully-costed election platform.
Senator Milne says the Greens will become increasingly relevant and powerful.
"You're going to see both of the old parties decline over time and the rise of new parties like the Greens because the old parties were based on a view that the earth is free and you can do what you like to it and it won't have any impact. Whereas people are recognising that that thinking is long gone and we need to look at the challenges and that's where the Greens come in. So I think multi-party politics is very much part of the agenda in Australia and I think you're going to see more Greens elected and more independents elected."
After the 1996 state election, as the then leader of the Tasmanian Greens, Christine Milne oversaw a loose alliance with the Liberals.
This allowed the Liberals to govern Tasmania in a minority government until 1998.
It's not clear how she would react to the prospect of a similar alliance with the Coalition at a federal level, if the upcoming election results in a hung parliament.
