Hung Parliament's 6 Hats

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

The six thinking hats of Edward de Bono

White hat

White is neutral and objective. The white hat is concerned with objective facts and figures. The white hat strives to be objective: what do we know; what do we need to know.

Red hat

The red hat suggests anger (seeing red), rage and emotions. The red hat gives the emotional view. The red hat thinker says what they feel about a topic. There is never an attempt to justify the feelings.

Black hat

Black is sombre and serious. The black hat is cautious and careful. It points out the weaknesses in an idea. Black hat thinking should not be the dominant mode of thinking.

Yellow hat

Yellow is sunny and positive. The yellow hat is optimistic and covers hope and positive thinking. Yellow hat thinking is concerned with positive thinking where black hat thinking is concerned with negative thinking. Yellow hat permits visions and dreams.

Green hat

Green is grass, vegetation and abundance, fertile growth. The green hat indicates creativity and new ideas. Green hat can be provocative; attempt to change the current mode of thinking.

Blue hat

Blue is cool and is also the colour of the sky, which is above anything else. The blue hat is concerned with control, the organisation of the thinking process and the use of the other hats.

Primary school students are taught the six thinking hats. Edward de Bono has offered a well repected and well thought way of problem solving and managing discussions. For the whole time we have had the hung parliament we have had people wearing the hats so we have, in actual fact,  had some good discussions and we are getting far better at it with practice. We are starting to get  perspective and we are starting to bring facts and information into our talks. Journalists are starting to ask pertinent questions and know their information rather than just going in for a knee jerk , sensationalist response or attack. Tripe is tripe and does not further us at all. Since Julia Gillard has been Prime Minister we have had some interesting hat wearing episodes and some interesting approaches but now you can actually hear Australia thinking and talking. We couldn't do it at first because we were so used to the right/wrong, good /bad , stupid/sensible dualities in our conversations of jingoistic ready-made thought. Now we have covered all sorts of important and relevant issues and we have really started to discuss and debate so the Black Hat is not what we  currently want. We now regularly hear from experts, people of experience and those who ought to know and they offer good information and ideas. We now hear from more politicians than ever and I actually am getting to know more politicians than ever before and I like that. The discussions involve a broad range of people and opinions and there is input from th general public via radio, social media, rallies and the internet so we are no longer marginalised and ignored. If we have something to say we have avenues of contribution. The media is starting to look at things in a more balanced way so that varying angles are covered. Yes, we were distressed by how our cattle were being killed in Indonesia. We did want it stopped immediately. Which hat was that? Then we realised it was affecting our farmers in an unfair way...so the reaction was to blame...which hat was that? Then we started looking at ways of solving the problem. Same with our detention system. We are looking at that far more broadly in an attempt to actually get a reasonable solution but we have worn all the hats to get there...so we need our blue hat to put all that thinking together and come up with  a first attempt at solving it sensibly. Black hat thinking is too restrictive. We need to use our hats to keep coming up with ways and means of tackling the things the Gillard government has put before us - and it is all the things we have never dealt with properly. So we will change our minds and our hats, but we need to be working towards solutions...not bumpy , potholed , well worn tracks.