Debating Styles
The UQDS organises two internal competitions each year, one for each semester.

Australasian style
In the first semester the competition is in the Australasian debating style. In this style, there are two teams in each debate, each team consisting of three members. Speeches are 7 minutes per speaker, with a warning bell (or clap) after the 1st and 6th minutes between which points of information may be asked of the speaker by members of the opposing team. New UQDS members who have debated in high school, especially in the QDU competition, will be familiar with this style although for those who have not debated before it is straightforward enough pick up. Teams will debate in this fashion for several rounds, randomly paired in the first round and 'power-paired' thereafter. The final weeks of semester will see the top eight teams eliminate each other until the grand final decides the winner.

British Parliamentary style
The second semester competition is done in the British Parliamentary (BP) style. This style has four teams debating each other, each team consisting of only two members. In keeping with the parliamentary theme, the first speaker of the frontbench 'Government' team is traditionally called the 'Prime Minister' and the second speaker the 'Deputy Prime Minister'. The first speaker of frontbench 'Opposition' team is the 'Opposition Leader' and the second speaker the 'Deputy Opposition Leader'. The first speaker of the backbench Government team, the third team in the speaking order, is known as the 'Government Member' and the second speaker the 'Government Whip'. The members of the backbench Opposition team are the 'Opposition Member' and 'Opposition Whip'. This can be confusing for people new to the style so to clarify, the speaking order is:

Prime Minister
Opposition Leader
Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Opposition Leader
Government Member
Opposition Member
Government Whip
Opposition Whip

The topic of the debate will be framed as a policy motion put to the parliament, usually starting with the phrase, "This House would..." or, "This House believes..." and the Government teams must argue in favour and the opposition teams against. The backbench teams cannot contradict their corresponding frontbench teams but they must differentiate their cases enough to distinguish themselves from their frontbench teams. This usually involves what is termed an 'extension' which simply means analysing the topic from a different angle to the frontbench or concentrating more deeply on a particular facet of the topic. This style of debating is obviously more complicated and nuanced than the Australasian style, and takes more time to master, but it can be very rewarding once you get the hang of it. The mechanics of the competition are basically the same as those for the first semester competition.

Debating Tournaments
There are three major tournaments in which the UQDS traditionally competes. The first one of the year is the Australian Intervarsity Debating Championships, commonly known as 'Easters' because it is held over the Easter break. This is the premier university tournament in Australia at which UQ has performed well in the past and was fortunate to host the competition in 2003. In 2007, Easters will be held by the University of Sydney. The second tournament of the year is the Australasian Debating Championships, 'Australs' for short, and this is the major competition for universities in the Asia-Pacific region. UQ had the honour of hosting Australs in 2005. In 2007, Australs will be held by Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia.

The last and most prestigious tournament of the year is the World University Debating Championships or 'Worlds', which is held over the week of New Year's. At the most recent Worlds at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, UQ made it all the way to the finals. We hope to do just as well, if not better, at the 2008 Worlds to be held at Assumption University, Thailand. Also in the UQDS competition calendar is the Women's tournament, the premier women-only debating competition in Australia. UQDS members are strongly encouraged to attend these tournaments as they are great opportunities not only to compete for UQ but to hone their debating skills and meet other accomplished debaters.

The society has also taken a leading role in developing debating at a Queensland level. The UQDS, along with the Griffith University and Bond University debating societies, began the Queensland Cup tournament in 2005 to promote debating among Queensland university students. In 2004, we hosted our first Schools Day competition, during which high school debating teams from around Brisbane spend a day at UQ's St Lucia campus competing against each other. This tournament was designed as a fun way to encourage students to develop their reasoning and argumentative skills and to consider continuing debating as they enter university.

To find out more about debating, tournaments and other debating societies, check out our Links page.

Resources
If you're interested in getting better at debating, the links below are some good places to start.

Simon Quinn's book gives quite a good overview of important techniques in debating. The Monash Association forum is a pretty impressive forum where the debaters discuss pretty much every single topic known to debating. It also has many links to good newspaper articles. The UQDS live journal has a summary of every debate we do each week. The Debatabase website can also be another useful source (though a little bit basic) for solid debating techniques.

Simon Quinn's guide to debating:
http://www.learndebating.com/book.htm

Monash Association of Debaters debating forum:
http://madonline.proboards30.com/

UQDS live journal:
http://uqds.livejournal.com

Debatabase:
http://www.debatabase.org