The Brutopian Brouhaha

This week has seen a successful return to parliament. Our focus on leadership and the global warming debate has put the government on the back foot. This was particularly evident in Howard's flustered arrogance, denying the link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, only later to say he was referring to a connection between greenhouse gas emissions and drought. Arrogance because he thought he knew what we were asking without thinking about it, fluster because his gaffe surely exposes his age and ability against our younger, more dynamic team.

And our team has performed strongly this week - there's nothing a sniff of blood can't do in lifting effort and performance. I particularly enjoyed Peter Garrett going head to head with a wobbly Malcolm Turnbull on The 7.30 Report.

Could I touch briefly on Costello's brouhaha about "Brutopia", the mythical country parodying the USSR, borrowed by Michael Oakeshott from Carl Banks' imaginative Disney world and to which I referred in November's issue of "The Monthly".

Costello's schoolboy humour misses the point I was making in The Monthly article:

An unfettered market capitalism, that is, "the unforgiving forces of neo-liberalism, materialism and consumerism" without the effective checks and balances of social responsibility will give rise to an ugly society of fear and prejudice. Convervative philosopher Michael Oakeshott's Brutopia is a representation of just such an outcome.

Howard's consistent projection of fear and it's associated unbalanced and unachievable panacea of "certainty", underpins his cynical, "political" approach to Australia. The counter balance of a government's moral responsibility to protect those without power or access to market capitalism is non-existent.

Our social democratic belief that individual reward can be balanced with social responsibility is at the heart of our policy formulation. It is the rejection of a market-driven "Brutopia" that makes Costello's shallow humour so disturbing. This is the ground on which the election will be fought.

What future do Australians want? One of fear, or one of reward and responsibility?