Gippsland Grammar Felicity Lear – Coordinator, Agnik Sarkar, Luke Knowles and Britt Jeffs.

Scotch College - Will Harms, Tom Treffry and Nick Yates.

Gippsland Grammar and Scotch College through to final of economics debate

Gippsland Grammar and Scotch College are through to the final of Viewpoint 2009, the Monash Economics debate. They will go head to head on 28 May at Federation Square in Melbourne.

The Faculty of Business and Economics has organised Viewpoint 2009 – a state-wide debating competition for schools – in an effort to promote public speaking and encourage students to develop an understanding of economic issues.

Preliminary rounds were held on 3 May, with 24 teams battling it out to determine the eight teams that would go through to the quarter and semi-finals.

The teams challenged each other on subjects ranging from the exportation of uranium, to the ethics and usefulness of the $900 stimulus package, to the pros and cons of free university education.

Head of the Department of Economics Professor Russell Smyth said he was pleased with the level of interest in the debate.

“Students worked intensely, competing in morning and afternoon sessions, with many using their lunch break to hone their final arguments,” Professor Smyth said. 

The quarter and semi-finals took place on 10 May. Quarter finalists St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School, St Margaret’s School, Gippsland Grammar School, Lauriston Girls School, Fintona Girls School, Loreto Mandeville Hall and two teams from Scotch College debated whether the government should use taxes to discourage alcohol consumption.

Then the semi-finalists St Margaret’s School, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Gippsland Grammar School and Scotch College debated whether the government should lift all trade sanctions on North Korea to determine who would go through to the Grand Final on 28 May 2009 at BMW Edge, Federation Square in Melbourne.

Adjudicators for all debates are provided by the Debaters Association of Victoria, supported by the Monash Association of Debaters.