Misuse of market power

The Greens also support the government's plans to introduce an effects test and other changes to Section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act to prevent the misuse of market power by big business.

In the second half of the last Parliament, the government largely ignored the crossbench, doing deals with Labor and the Greens to pass budget measures such as changes to the pension and the reindexation of fuel excise.

Treasurer Scott Morrison was optimistic the new Senate would be easier to deal with than its predecessor because the crossbench would have blocs controlled by Senator Xenophon and Ms Hanson, whereas the previous crossbench was comprised of eight individuals, following the disintegration of the Palmer United Party.

"There were eight moving parts in the last Senate, none of which had virtually anything in common," he said.

New electoral landscape New electoral landscape Marginal seats The final countdown in close seats Likely seats won so far What the latest counting suggests What the experts think will happen Research Greg Earl Australian Financial Review Interactive Interactive graphic by Les Hewitt

"Now in the new Senate, it's very likely we may have fewer moving parts because of those blocs."

On Tuesday, Mr Turnbull said that if he was re-elected, he would persist with trying to pass the two bills that he used as triggers for the double dissolution election – one to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and one to establish a Registered Organisations Commission.


Senator voting reforms

The government must first try to pass these through the Senate one more time before calling a joint sitting of Parliament, at which it would need a minimum of 114 votes across both houses. While the Coalition will not have that many MPs and senators, it remains optimistic that the Senate crossbench will help it over the line, especially as Senator Xenophon had not ruled out supporting the bills the last time when they were defeated in the Senate.

Mr Turnbull said that all the new senators should be respected because the senator voting reforms, which weeded out microparties gaming the preference system meant that all had been legitimately elected.

"We don't know the final composition of the Parliament [but] whoever is elected, they are there because the people voted for them," he said.