SYDNEY -- What a great Australia Day we've just celebrated. Pity it reopened that old can of worms -- whether to dump Queen Elizabeth II as Australia's head of state.
Still, this seems to be the season for dumping. The once mighty Labor Party, fed up with life in the political wilderness, has just dumped its sick leader, Mark Latham, and resurrected its old war horse, Kim Beazley.
For a rather self-satisfied country with so much going for it in the way of social and economic progress, Australia seems to be starting 2005 with a yen for change. The conservatism highlighted by the sweeping re-election last year of John Howard and his Liberal-National Coalition masks a deep-seated determination to fix a few old problems.