Congratulations to Sebastian Rees (12/PR), first speaker in the winning team from New South Wales, who took out the National Debating in Schools competition over the weekend. The full NSW team and coaches (pictured above, with Seb at fourth right in his ‘Blues’ blazer & tie) consisted of speakers from Newington College, Sydney Grammar School, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Sydney Girls’ High School and coaches Eleanor Jones and Joanna Connolly from the University of Sydney. They travelled to Victoria to compete in a week-long competition of rounds and finals.

The NSW team won seven out of seven debates within the first week putting them in a good position for the Semi- Finals. NSW, along with Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia all entered the Semi-Finals with NSW breaking first. However, despite early successes, the team lost the Major Semi Final to Victoria in a nail-biting showdown over the topic ‘That the United States should have amnesty for all illegal immigrants’ (Negative). Luckily, this did not shatter the team’s resolve as they went on to defeat Queensland in the Preliminary Final over the topic ‘That the Northern Territory Intervention has done more harm than good’.

Heading into the Grand Final was NSW and Victoria, both hot favourites. The topic was ‘That Western States should actively send female and LGBT* ambassadors to nations that are sexist and homophobic’ and NSW argued against the motion. NSW won over a four to three split in the Grand Final with coach Joanna Connolly saying Seb was, “in no small way responsible for the NSW win”, being rested only once during the whirlwind tournament of nine debates.

We congratulate team members James Stratton of Sydney Grammar School (Captain), and Sophie Large of SCEGGS Darlinghurst, who were selected to represent Australia in the World Finals in Thailand this year and Singapore in 2015.

*lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender