They have been the story of the 2022 federal election.
A wave of teal independents and Greens disrupting the status quo and up-ending Australia's ideas of safe seats and a two-party system.
Others are not even a shade of green, with crossbenchers including Bob Katter also being returned by voters.
Labor is inching closer to a majority, but it's not yet a done deal, and it'll be a slim majority if it does eventuate.
So there are questions about just how influential, and effective, those independent and minor party crossbenchers might be, and whether they are destined to be one-term wonders — as some disgruntled Liberals are certainly hoping.
But there are certainly precedents for long-term independents.
'I got burnt'
Since he took the seat off Labor in 2010, Andrew Wilkie has been the member for Clark, formerly Denison, in Hobart.
He's not about to proffer unsolicited advice to his new crossbench counterparts, but he has learned some lessons.
Andrew Wilkie's first term began with a hung parliament, which he used to negotiate an eight-page deal with Julia Gillard, promising Labor supply and confidence in exchange for poker machine reform.
It seemed like a great move, until Mr Wilkie found himself ripping up the deal 18 months later, after the government reneged on its part of the deal.
"Well, I was certainly burnt in my first term," Mr Wilkie said.
"But I learned that you're actually better off not to have a formal deal, and approach every single vote, every single issue on its merits."
Can independents be effective if they don't hold the balance of power?
In Andrew Wilkie's four terms, only one government, Tony Abbott's, had a clear majority.
"For the other three terms, and now this new term, the government has either been in minority or perilously close to losing its majority."
It doesn't take much for a government to be reduced to minority, or close to minority, as Craig Kelly's departure from the Liberal Party proved in 2021.
In Mr Wilkie's experience, that's one of the reasons governments generally like to keep crossbenchers happy.
With numbers on the floor set to be tight, even if Labor has a majority, Mr Wilkie said he expected crossbenchers would have the ear of the government.
"In fact, a well-regarded independent has better access to government ministers than backbenchers in their own party, that's my experience.
"And I would hope that that can lead to some policy reform, as well as additional federal government funding in the electorate."
Mr Wilkie said it also came in handy for governments to have the "imprimatur of a well-regarded independent", particularly with controversial reforms.
"So there are all sorts of ways that we can exert influence subtly or strongly.
"It's all about building relationships with the major parties."
Mr Wilkie said the role of an independent was about more than securing money for their electorate.
Can the indies work together?
Aside from the Greens, the crossbenchers heading to Canberra are not part of a bloc or affiliated with each other.
Most campaigned on climate action, integrity and many received funding from the same donor, Climate 200.
Andrew Wilkie, who received a donation from Climate 200, said that interest in a few key issues was where the association between independents generally ended.
The investor activist behind Climate 200 has said donations came with no strings attached and successful candidates were not obliged to vote in any particular way.
For his part, Mr Wilkie has not spoken to any of the newly elected crossbenchers, but anticipated they might get together for a drink in the first sitting week.
Labor beware
Mr Wilkie said there were a number of reasons the Labor government would need to be mindful of the crossbench, even if the ALP ended up with a majority.
"For a start, we represent millions of Australians, about a third of the voting public actually voted for an independent or a minor party or a micro party," he said.
So far so good for Labor on that front — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Andrew Wilkie on Monday morning, along with a raft of other returning crossbenchers.
