Despite facing an even tougher task to get legislation through the federal upper house, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declared his Senate reforms a success.
The coalition government now has to contend with holding 30 seats in the new Senate and negotiating with an extra three crossbenchers.
That's despite laws that changed the way Australians vote for senators being passed during a marathon sitting in March.
They allowed voters to allocate their own preferences above the line on the Senate ballot paper and if they chose to vote below the line, they didn't have to number every box.
"The Senate reform absolutely worked because what we had before was preferences being allocated behind closed doors," Mr Turnbull told 3AW radio on Friday.
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"So what we've got is a much more democratic Senate."
He defended the right for senators like Pauline Hanson from One Nation to be elected.
"Half a million Australians voted for her," he said.
Mr Turnbull said he had a constructive meeting with Ms Hanson recently and most of the subjects discussed had nothing to do with migration.
"She has a wide range of policy interests which she will pursue."
But he insisted the government didn't share her opposition of Muslim migration.
Attorney-General George Brandis believes the new crossbench will be easier to deal with than the last, despite its expanded size.
But returned Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm disagrees.
"I think they're going to struggle," he told Sky News.
"I'd be surprised if the Senate wasn't mostly gridlocked - except for when Labor agrees with them."
He'll support the government's company tax cuts, but will oppose superannuation changes and plans to raise the tobacco tax.
He's invited the government to try to persuade him over its bid to re-establish the building industry watchdog.
The Nick Xenophon Team wants minor amendments to the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation relating to health and safety.
"We're almost there," South Australian senator-elect Stirling Griff told ABC radio.
But his party sides with Labor when it comes to holding a royal commission into the banking sector.
Broadcaster and senator-elect Derryn Hinch plans to frustrate the government over racial discrimination law changes, which were dumped by the Abbott government in 2014.
He wants section 18C - which makes it illegal to offend, insult or humiliate a person on the grounds of race - to be scrapped and will be pursuing the issue when he heads to Canberra.
The senator-elect said he was approached by Family First senator Bob Day in February about supporting the push to repeal the section.
"This is one thing outside our seven policies that I will say now I'll support 1000 per cent," Mr Hinch said.
One Nation's Malcolm Roberts says the proposal also has his strong support.
Senator Brandis recently said he had no plans to revisit the issue.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said the case hadn't been made to change section 18C.
"That case was argued in the last parliament. It was unsuccessful and we will certainly stand up not only for majority views in this country but we'll also stand up for the diversity of this country," he told reporters in Sydney.
