Waikato wins NZ Schools Debating Champs

Waikato has defeated Auckland to win the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Champs in the grand final held at Parliament on May 30th, 2011.

The Waikato team of Christopher Jury, Thomas Simpson and Kayla Grant successfully affirmed the motion “That New Zealand needs Don Brash”, winning in a unanimous decision.

Christopher Bishop, the president of the NZ Schools’ Debating Council said the final was a closely contested and very humorous debate on a highly relevant topic.

“Waikato argued that NZ is in a perilous economic position, and Dr Brash’s ideas about reducing the size of government would help reduce our debt levels and improve our growth rate. They argued their case with great passion and wit and narrowly defeated the spirited challenge of Auckland,” he said.

The final was the culmination of a weekend of debating between thirty six of the country’s top secondary school students at Victoria University of Wellington.

Teams from around the country took part in five preliminary rounds of debates, confronting issues as whether NZ should be a republic, possession of drugs for personal use should be decriminalised, and whether dictators should be granted amnesty for ending conflicts.

Students found out the topics and what side they were to argue only one hour before the debate.

The defeated semi-finalists were Wellington and Kahurangi-Marlborough.

The best five speakers at the tournament were named as members of the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team, which will represent New Zealand at the World Schools’ Debating Champs in Scotland in August.

The team is Nick Orr (Captain, Auckland Grammar School), Thomas Simpson (Hamilton Boys’ High School), Edward Foley (Wellington College), Rayhan Langdana (Wellington College), and James Penn (Wanganui High School).

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships have been held annually since 1988 and are recognised as the country’s most prestigious school debating competition.