Dominating the debate
Debating team, Monash 1, (l to r) Kiran Iyer, Madeline Schultz and Chris Bisset, have taken out the Australasian championships
The Monash Association of Debaters (MAD) has continued its unbeaten streak, taking out the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships (‘Australs’), held in Wellington, New Zealand over the weekend.
For the first time in the history of the Australs, two teams from the same institution contested the grand final, with 'Monash 1' narrowly edging out 'Monash 2'. The teams debated 'That we should introduce good Samaritan laws', with Monash 1 arguing for the affirmative.
The success at the Australs, which Monash has taken out nine times, follows on from MAD's win at the World University Debating Championships (WUDC) earlier this year, against teams from Oxford, Stanford and the University of Sydney. MAD also won the WUDC in 2011.
In addition to the overall success, Chris Bisset was awarded the Martin Sorensen Trophy for best speaker of the tournament, while Kiran Iyer took home the Jock Faneslow Trophy for best speaker in the grand final. Chris and Kiran, with Madeline Schultz, made up Monash 1. Gemma Buckley, James Beavis and Colette Mintz were the Monash 2 team.
Kiran said he was proud that all members of the contingent had turned in such strong performances.
"To have the grand final contested solely by Monash debaters is a remarkable achievement," Kiran said.
"We had four teams that only narrowly missed out on making the finals, so overall, it was a really strong showing. Following on from our success at the WUDC, we have a clear claim to being the best debating university in the region at the moment.
"On behalf of MAD, I thank the University for their continued support."
The Australs contest is the world’s second-largest international debating competition, behind the WUDC. More than 300 students from countries including Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand participated between 8 and 16 July this year.
Teams competed in eight preliminary rounds, on topics such as international peace and security, ethics, economics and social policy. The top 16 teams went through to the finals competition.
MAD is the largest debating society in the Southern Hemisphere and has been empowering students to speak their minds for 50 years.