On the weekend following the end of Term 3, Cormac Gallagher and I travelled to Auckland to participate in the inaugural New Zealand Schools’ British Parliamentary Debating Championships. This was the first tournament of this type run for schools in New Zealand, so it was an unfamiliar format from what all teams were used to. However, this style of debating is the preeminent form of debating in the world and is commonly used at University level.

The basic idea behind this format is that there are 4 teams of 2 members each. Two teams are on ‘Government’ side (affirming the moot) and two teams are on ‘Opposition’ side (negating the moot). The aim is to not only make your side win the debate, but to also beat the team that is on the same side as you. To do this requires tactics and extensions which were unfamiliar ideas to the debaters taking part. Hence, the first few debates were messy; yet, highly entertaining.

Throughout the weekend we participated in 6 debates against schools from Dunedin to Auckland. The moots for these 6 debates were:-

“This house believes that people should be required to obtain a parenting licence in order to have children” (We were Closing Government) 2nd place

“This house believes that all states should have a right to nuclear weapons” (Opening Government) 2nd place

“This house believes that Governments should prioritise urban development over assistance for regional areas” (Opening Opposition) 3rd place

“This house regrets the emphasis on personality in politics” (Closing Opposition) 3rd place

“This house believes that when prisoners perform labour on public works, they should be entitled to the same rights as all workers (e.g. work is voluntary, receive minimum wage)” (Closing Opposition) 4th place

“This house would allow the public to elect US Supreme Court justices directly” (Opening Government) 3rd place

At the end of the 6 rounds we finished in 30th place, out of 46 teams which we were quite happy with even though some results didn’t fall our way.

Overall, the weekend was a steep learning experience against some of the best debaters in New Zealand. However, this did not take away from the enjoyment of the weekend. Both Cormac and I learnt a lot from the experience and would definitely do it again if we were given the chance.

Oscar Sergel-Stringer