Debaters Win Regional Contest

The Number One senior debating team successfully defended their position as Waikato Secondary Schools Debating Champions in last night’s final in the Debating Chamber of the Waikato City Council. Chaired by the Mayor of Hamilton, Hillcrest affirmed the moot “That this House would ban the advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals” while HBHS opposed.  The HBHS team, comprising Thomas Simpson, Christopher Jury and Neeraj Khatri, supported by friends and families, argued that manufacturer’s advertising was a starting point for information about drug treatments while banning such advertising provided a conspiracy of silence for the general public, while the harms that advertising might engender were outweighed by the public’s right to knowledge and dialogue.

The winning of the Waikato competition completes a hugely successful year for the team which won the Super 8 competition as well regional Waikato/BOP championships and saw Thomas Simpson and Chris Jury selected for the Waikato team at Nationals. This team won at Parliament House this month and saw Thomas selected for the New Zealand team for the Worlds SS Debating competition.

Congratulations to all 5 senior teams for a successful year of debating.