Junior A Debating v Wellington College
Junior A: William Duncan, Phoenix Harvey and Alex Hindmarsh
Moot: This House would make it compulsory for all signs to be in Te Reo Māori and English.
Junior A (affirming) vs Wellington College (negating)
A hotly contested debate with many emotive points made by both sides, and both sides seemed to have a common goal: the enhancement of the mana of Te Reo Māori within the public space of Aotearoa. The Junior A's made a very strong case for all government signs to be in both languages as it is virtually mandated by the first article of the Treaty of Waitangi and it helps celebrate the multicultural heritage of New Zealand. Wellington College came back strongly with the assertion that doing this is merely lip service and for Te Reo to thrive it would be necessary for signs to be exclusively in Te Reo. Even though they strayed from the moot significantly, and at times appeared to perpetuate the inherent racism in such a claim, it seemed to win over the adjudicators in a very close debate. It was a pity that style won over substance in this Junior debate as Wellington College were deemed to have carried the day.
