A crowded caucus, an unruly upper house and a Coalition with a confidence problem: Welcome to the 48th Parliament.

Tuesday marked the official opening of the new parliament, with pomp and ceremony to take place before MPs get down to business.

Anthony Albanese begins his second term as Prime Minister wielding an even larger parliamentary majority, with Labor holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

Opposition counterpart Sussan Ley presides over just 43 lower house MPs after the Coalition’s election wipeout.

Labor will likely have an easier time implementing its agenda but Australian National University political lecturer Jill Sheppard said the expanded government benches would also bring challenges.

“The pitfall for the government is less so hubris, because they still have to negotiate with a pretty boisterous Senate,” she said.

“The bigger issue for Labor is wrangling the 94 members of their caucus, and that’s going to be a real challenge.

“It may be a blessing to have a relatively clean slate after the election but it’s also a curse that everyone will want to have a say in what direction they go.”

MPs and senators will be sworn in at Tuesday’s opening before the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate president are elected.

Legislation set for the first week of parliament includes a 20 per cent reduction in HECS debt for university students, penalty rate protections and increased safety measures at childcare centres.

Albanese (with son Nathan and fiancee Jodie Haydon) and Ley at Tuesday’s smoking ceremony for the new Parliament. Photo: Mike Bowers

The Coalition is still reviewing many of the policies it took to the election, but has flagged it is likely to support the student debt reduction measures, along with childcare protection laws.

Ley told parliamentary colleagues on Monday she was prepared to take the fight to the government during the upcoming term.

“That’s what people expect,” she said.

“They want a parliament that understands their lives, what their lives are like, and a government that gets out of the way.

“Our policies are up for review, but our values are not.”

Sheppard said the Coalition’s issues were unlikely to go away. But there could also be an upside for Ley.

“Even before the election, the Liberals had a confidence problem,” she said.

“Their frontbench was not very deep, there are individuals who have been promoted above their ability and that’s a huge problem and it’s not something you can fix in a term.

“[The smaller numbers] are maybe not a bad thing for Sussan Ley in trying to consolidate her leadership.”

-AAP