September 9, 2024

Best debating minds converge on Wollongong for national championship

UOW hosts students from around Australia for the Australian British Parliamentary Debating Championship

For the first time a student team from the University of Wollongong (UOW) are hosting the Australian British Parliamentary Debating Championships (ABPDC) at the Wollongong Campus. The championships started on Saturday 7 September and finishes today (Monday 9 September) with the finals this afternoon.

The national competition sees 150 tertiary students from 12 Australian universities gather in Wollongong as they participate as debaters and adjudicators in the three-day debating championship.

The UOW Debating Society, known as SWORDS, won the bid to host the national competition, making it only the second time in the club’s history they have hosted a national competition. Seventeen SWORDS members are participating in the tournament, the largest contingent of the championship.

Student teams from the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney, Queensland University of Technology, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, Monash University, Australian National University, University of Tasmania and University of Western Australia have joined UOW.

The ABPDC, which is only in its second year, is one of the newest debating competitions to be added to the Australian debating calendar.

SWORDS President and UOW third-year teaching student Sam Nicholls is one of the event organisers responsible for securing the rights to host the student-led competition.

“The event promises fierce debates, a friendly and competitive atmosphere, plenty of networking, social nights and the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful surrounds and hospitality of the Illawarra,” Sam said.

“We are excited about the calibre of talent coming to Wollongong. The Australian circuit has produced some of the best debaters in the world with multiple attending teams having seen great international success recently.”

Sam has been debating for nine years, following his passion for debating throughout high school and into university, and said the club is in a unique position to foster talent across the next few years with many UOW students only just starting their debating journey.

“While SWORDS is often considered a small club, being able to participate in the national competition and having the opportunity go against those more established teams is beneficial for development,” Sam said.

“The club’s growth has been organic, and word of mouth continues to see new people join mid-semester. The allure of travel both domestically and internationally is proving to be a drawing card attracting new members.”

^{Clockwise from top-left: Angus Braiden and Callum Belgrove, Amelie Clare and Lachlan Middlemiss during practice debates during a SWORDS internal meeting at UOW Wollongong. Photo: Michael Gray} 

SWORDS sent a team of 10 students to last year’s competition, held at the University of Melbourne, setting in motion SWORDS Vice-President Angus Braiden’s determination to bring the next competition to Wollongong.

“Being able to be part of setting the precepts of competition and being able to set some of the norms and customs means that we can put our own sort of spin on it,” Angus said.

“We are trying to make it a lot more social and approachable, but also trying to make it approachable for smaller institutions as well as the established ones. The competition is bigger than last year, so it is exciting to see it come into fruition.”

The British Parliamentary style of debating, which the competition follows, features four teams of two speakers for each debate, all competing against each other. The teams debate a motion or topic, with two teams acting as the Government – for the affirmative – and two teams debating as the Opposition – the negative – with an adjudicator overseeing the debate.

Angus is now a seasoned debating adjudicator and judge having swapped from debating after finishing high school to move into adjudicating debates when he started studying law and engineering at UOW two years ago.   

“Each of the affirmative and negative teams consists of two teams, with the opening team competing against the closing team. The closing team do hugely different things to the opening team. They don’t know what is going to happen heading into the debate,” Angus said.

“As a judge, it means that we must keep track of a lot. We need to make sure that everything is new. We need to find out which team is doing their job best in role fulfilment. We must keep order, as speakers are allowed to ask questions of each other throughout the debate.

“It is something that makes it a lot more enjoyable. It can become a lot more work just maintaining order. You also get a lot of very funny arguments and opinions that people whip out. Which makes it interesting to judge.”

^{SWORDS club members. Back row: Callum Belgrove, Lachlan Middlemiss, Zac Morrell, Sam Nicholls, Angus Braiden, Liam Felli,, Grace Weckert and Alexander. Front row: Amelie Clare, Persia De Jong, Molly O'Meagher, Serena Lucato, Marcus Stevanoski, Isobelle Sutherland, Will Douglas, Charlotte Vakayil.}

At the conclusion of each debate, the adjudicator ranks teams in the debate from first to fourth with the top two teams progressing to the next round, until there are only four teams left for the final debate.

SWORDS President Sam Nicholls said the competition promises to be a memorable experience for all involved.

“Our club prides itself on being inclusive, we hope that all competitors across the weekend take away Wollongong’s friendly, supportive and welcoming vibes.”

The ABPDC Grand Final will be live streamed via Facebook today (Monday 9 September) from 3:30pm.