A statement from Moose Enterprises, distributor of the Bindeez toy, notes that since the recall of the original toy, a replacement bead activity toy has been made available to consumers, known as Beados.

‘The bead has been reformulated with safer ingredients,’ the statement from the company reads, and notes that ‘the ingredients are a trade secret.’

While numerous important matters were no doubt discussed before a whiteboards and poignant cartoons, the one that has remained a talking point in the week since has been the possibility of Australians once more having the opportunity to vote on whether the country should remain a monarchy or embrace change as a new republic. As yet, no dates have been set for official discussions on the topic, but the matter must surely be weighing heavily on the mind of newly elected Governor General Quentin Bryce.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with Quentin Bryce (AAP: Alan Porritt)

Only a week before the summit, Bryce, the Governor of Queensland, from the sheep farming town of Ilfracombe, Queensland, was celebrating her impending promotion to the position, and gaining the praise of the likes of Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and collapsing current affairs host Jill Singer. However, if a referendum decided that Australia were to sever ties with England’s royal family, this would make the position of Governor General redundant.

Perhaps of more concern should be the fact that Ms. Bryce’s brooch is made of contraband substance Bindeez. The children’s art toy distributed by Moose Enterprises was recalled nation-wide prior to Christmas in 2007 after it was revealed, through a number of children’s trial and unintentional error, that the beads in the product metabolised into the recreational drug GHB. Leader Newspapers reported ‘pandemonium’ at K-Mart in Westfield Shopping Centre Southland, with up to two trolley loads of the toy being returned in a week.