Pet Licence Topic for Round 1 Debating Comp

“Should people require a licence to own a pet?”

This was the topic of contention battled out in Round 1 of the Regional Debating Competition convened by the South Australian Debating Association (SADA) on Wednesday September 23^rd.

SADA’s Dinuk Rajapakse visited schools prior the competition to deliver an education session to both new and returning debaters. The teams were then able to apply their learning in this first round of competition.

Dinuk was joined by SADA adjudicators Isabella Teague and Isaac Jacobs to hear six overall debates on this topic. Reasons for the affirmative included the opportunity to prior educate pet owners with the aim of reducing animal cruelty, thus reducing the load of the overworked RSPCA; negative teams pointed out the heavy administrative load of this concept as well as the potential penalty felt by low socioeconomic families.

All debates were closely contested with a small number of points separating the winning and losing teams. PLHS Team 3 – consisting of new Year 7 debaters Ella Vonarx, Ranali Madiarachchige and Willow Spencer – recorded our first win of the year.

We were hugely impressed with the student’s courage, perseverance and willingness to support each other on the day. A special thank you goes to Dhanura Madiarachchige, who filled in with very little preparation.

We look forward to continuing our debating development in Round 2 early this term and will continue to welcome any new Year 7-9 faces to our team.

~ Ms. Holly Dufek, Mrs. Makenna Dunning & Ms. Tennille Aburto (Debating Coaches)