Junior Team – Year 8
This term debating has been a wild ride with us so far only losing one debate in the group stage which enabled our team to progress to the knockout rounds. Recently we won a quarter-finals debate against the Kinross Wolaroi School of Orange, triumphing with the familiar topic to some of us “that Australia should ban the export of live animals.” We argued the negative. Making expert use of debating tactics, we offered a countermodel to show a new solution to this problem. Remarkably, for the first time ever we won all three clashes about our main arguments which were based on animal welfare, economic viability and trade relationships.
So now our team consisting of four members: myself as first speaker, Molly as second speaker, Annaliese as third speaker and Clara as fourth “silent” speaker, have managed to finalise our place in the Australian National Virtual Debating Semi Finals.
Cohen, Year 8
Senior Team
During Term 3 the senior debating team progressed to the semi finals and competed against The Armidale School, arguing the negative case for the topic “That emergency workers should not be allowed to strike.” Our team used their one hour preparation time effectively as they clarified their position on concepts such as trade unions and workers’ rights, using the example of nurses’ industrial action in New South Wales to provide real world context.
The key clashes in the debate centred around harm minimisation, trust and equity with the team clearly articulating their stance and engaging critically with the opposing arguments. Strong rebuttals, particularly from our third speaker, were instrumental in dismantling the affirmative case.
The adjudication panel described the debate as dynamic, commending both teams on the logical construction of arguments and the confident, persuasive manner of presentation. In a close decision the debate was awarded to the negative. The SMGS team of Georgie, Sienna, Will and Emma now progress to the finals of the Australian National Virtual Debating Competition, the second team from SMGS to have reached this level.
