The 43rd Australian parliament has seen the Australian Greens obtain extraordinary political influence.
Despite securing only 12 per cent of the vote in 2010, the Greens have held the balance of power in the Senate and support from their single M-P in the lower house has been crucial in passing legislation.
It's been a meteoric rise for the Greens party which didn't even qualify for official Parliamentary Party status until 2007.
But this may be as good as it gets.
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Through the 1980s environmental parties in Australia were essentially independent state organisations.
In 1992 representatives from the different state-based parties met in Sydney where they agreed on the formation of the Australian Greens.
In 1996 Bob Brown became the fourth member of the Australian Greens movement ever to enter the federal parliament and two years later he was the party's sole federal M-P.
Since the turn of the century, the Australian Greens have assumed the role of the third party in Australian politics, held until recently by the Australian Democrats.
In 2007 the Greens secured more than one-million votes and expanded their representation in the Senate to five - a large enough number to achieve official Parliamentary Party status.
The party's success has come partly as a result of the proportional representation system used in the Senate which tends to benefit minor parties.
And in the 2010 federal election it saw the Greens secure six Senate seats, taking their tally in the upper house to nine.
Melbourne's Adam Bandt broke new ground for the party, securing the Greens' first seat in the House of Representatives at a general election. "Melbourne, together we have made history today."
The Greens extracted a number of promises from the Labor minority government in exchange for their support - only some of which Labor delivered on.
Part way into the term and after 16 years in federal politics, pioneering Australian Greens MP Bob Brown resigned as party leader in April 2012.
Handing the reigns over to Senator Christine Milne, he dismissed claims his party was in for turbulent times once he left the top job.
"This isn't the first time we've done this. I left the Tasmanian parliament and she (Christine Milne) took on the leadership and there were all sorts of dismal proclamations about the end of the Greens. Well, look at us now. This party is set to grow. I remember well being in this parliament as the only Green a decade ago. Here we are now ten (members of parliament). I'm proud of every one of them."
Under Senator Milne's leadership, the Greens' profile has continued to rise.
And 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.
Senator Milne says The Greens is now the only party that's serious about tackling climate change and it will become increasingly relevant as time goes on.
"When you look around the world it is extremely unusual to end up with majority governments. In fact it's the exception rather than the rule. This is the century when the overwhelming challenge is going to come from the environment as a result of global warming. That's going to impact on defence policy, impact on people moving around the world, on food scarcity and that's why you're going to see both of the old parties decline over time and the rise of new parties like the Greens."
But professor of politics at the Australian National University John Wanna says the party is not assured of expanding its parliamentary representation at the coming election.
In fact, Professor Wanna says the party could be a victim of its own 2010 success, and could actually shrink this time around.
"You know everyone says the Greens were spectacularly successful but Bandt's sitting on 30-something per cent (of primary votes) and gets the seat on Liberal preferences. So he's actually getting the seat over Labor on conservative preferences so it's not a massive endorsement of Green candidate. I suspect his position and people like him who are contesting for Green inner city ones will be taken aback this time because I think the Liberals will not give preferences to the Greens to squeeze the Greens out and they will give preferences to Labor so Labor will probably hold on to all of those inner city seats on Liberal preferences."
Three Greens Senators are up for re-election: Tasmania's Peter Whish-Wilson, South Australia's Sarah Hanson-Young and Western Australia's Scott Ludlam.
