This week, the National Party announced they were leaving the Coalition to sit on the crossbench, which would make the Liberal Party the sole Opposition in the Australian Parliament. (Though talk of reuniting has already begun).

If the Nationals do see through their departure from the Opposition, there will be about as many MPs sitting on the crossbenches as there are in Opposition: perhaps 27 or 28 Nationals, Greens, independents and minor party MPs, and about the same number of Liberal MPs. This far exceeds what was previously described as the “record crossbench” of 16 elected in 2022 – and is the largest crossbench since the Coalition was formed in 1923.

But as the Australia Institute wrote during the election campaign, Australia did not federate in 1945. Large crossbenches were commonplace after Federation in 1901, sometimes exceeding not just the Opposition in size but the Government as well.

In fact, it is hard to understand the formation of the Coalition in the first place without understanding the role of the crossbench. Country representatives won 11 seats in 1919, and 14 in 1922. In that election, a further group of five MPs hostile to Billy Hughes won seats as independent Liberals, and one further independent MP was elected. Were it not for the decision of the former to rejoin the Nationalists under a new leader, and the Country Party’s formation of the Coalition agreement, Labor would have remained the largest voting bloc with 39% of seats.

While the current crossbench does not rival those of federation’s first decade, it is truly historic in other ways. The Liberal Party’s poor showing, coupled with the decision of the National Party to leave the Coalition, means that the opposition and crossbench will be of roughly equal proportion (19% each) while an ascendant Labor government holds nearly two thirds (63%) of seats on its own.

Arguably, the recent election most closely resembles the 1943 wartime poll, at which Labor won a sweeping majority of 65% of seats, fractionally bigger than its current share. The United Australia Party, precursor to the Liberal Party, secured just 14% of seats and the Country Party 12%. The two parties presented themselves to electors as a Coalition, but the crushing defeat saw them part ways “amicably” while they set out to “rebuild the prestige” of their organisations. The UAP was soon superseded by the Liberal Party, and the following election saw them take steps toward a revitalised coalition.

The long view matters here. Without it, some things seem more historic than they are, while the truly novel features of Australia’s current political landscape may pass us by.