Australian Greens show strength in federal parliament

SYDNEY (AAP) - With a record 10 Australian Greens taking their seats in parliament on Monday, the party has never looked stronger.
Greens leader Bob Brown has been beaming since last year's federal election, when the party won an extra four Senate seats and one in the House of Representatives in what he dubbed a voting "greenslide".
Melbourne MP Adam Bandt joined the lower house in September but Senator Brown has had to wait until now to welcome Richard Di Natale, Larissa Waters, Penny Wright and Lee Rhiannon to the red chamber.
They, along with 32 other newly or re-elected senators, were sworn into office by Governor-General Quentin Bryce.
Senator Brown challenged protocol and put forward his party's communications spokesman Scott Ludlam to stand against incumbent Labor senator John Hogg for Senate president.
Traditionally, the president is a representative of the government, and the deputy comes from the opposition.
Senator Brown's move provoked jeering from the coalition benches, but he insisted Senator Ludlam was a forthright man of great integrity, well placed to do the job.
"Senator Ludlam is the best choice," Senator Brown said.
Senator Hogg won the contest 62 votes to nine in a secret ballot, and thanked the Senate for its ongoing confidence in him.
Later, Liberal Stephen Parry, a former policeman and undertaker, defeated Senator Ludlam in a ballot for the deputy president's job.
To accommodate their burgeoning Senate team, which has gone from five to nine, the Greens have sprawled out over three extra pews.
They chatted happily among themselves and with nearby colleagues throughout the morning, despite opposition Senate leader Eric Abetz making clear the party wasn't going to have it easy.
"The Senate is going to take on a darker shade of red," he told reporters when arriving at Parliament House.