CANBERRA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ends his second year in power facing a new opponent and a changed political outlook, with his government in need of fresh tactics for the 2010 election year.

In a dramatic past week in Australian politics, Rudd's landmark carbon trade plan was rejected by parliament and the opposition dumped its leader Malcolm Turnbull, who was considered too close to Rudd on climate policy.
The opposition elected as its new leader social conservative Tony Abbott, a former boxer and Rhodes scholar who once studied for the priesthood, in a move analysts said would sharpen the choice voters face at elections due by late next year.
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The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional democracy based on a federal division of powers. The form of government used in Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General at federal level and by the Governors at state level. Although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.

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