The motions on this page are a collection of the motions that have been set at the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships (Nationals), New Zealand Schools' British Parliamentary (NZSBP), and the World Schools’ Debating Championships (Worlds) in the past. They are a useful resource if you are looking for motions for your own tournament. Please bear in mind that more recent motions are more likely to reflect current trends in schools’ debating. Also note that Worlds motions will sometimes be on issues that are specific to their host countries.
2023 Nationals
- Round 1: This House believes that political should be state funded instead of receiving private donations
- Round 2: This House, as the environmental movement, would prioritise local environmental issues rather than global climate change
- Round 3: This House would abolish national secondary education standards (eg NCEA) in favour of secondary schools establishing their own curriculum and accreditations
- Round 4: This House regrets TikTok mental health awareness content (e.g. 'signs you have ADHD', 'my experience with depression')
- Round 5: This House would significantly increase the progressivist of the tax system
- Round 6: THW ban Al writing technology (eg chatGPT) in secondary and tertiary schools
- Round 7: This House regrets the rise of beauty routines e.g. makeup, skincare, as part of self care trends
- Semi Final: In New Zealand, contractors aren’t covered by most employment-related laws. This means they don’t get things like annual leave or sick leave and aren't able to unionise. However, contractors have greater freedom to move between companies or projects as they generally are only hired for fixed periods. They can also negotiate the terms of their contracts. The Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Act 2010, commonly referred to as the ‘Hobbit law’, means film production workers are independent contractors, unless they are party to a written employment agreement that states they are employees. This House supports the Hobbit law
- Grand Final: This House believes that New Zealand should become a republic
2022 Nationals
- Round 1: his House prefers a world where education for children under the age of 10 is in a "free-school" environment (ie. where children decide freely what activities they participate in)
- Round 2: This House opposes record labels (eg. Sony Music, Dreamville Records)
- Round 3: This House opposes the promotion and marketing of indigenous cultures by governments for the purpose of tourism
- Round 4: This House believes that teams’ season ticket holders should be allowed to vote to veto major transactions involving their sporting team (eg. Hiring/firing of a manager/coach, sale of team, change of stadium)
- Round 5: This house believes that liberal states should reduce their economic interdependence and interconnection with illiberal states
- Round 6: This house supports norms and institutions which give political power to opposition parties (eg. a norm of bipartisan coalitions, appointment to powerful roles in the Executive)
- Semi Final: his House would require all isolated religious communities (eg. Hasidic Jews, Mennonites) to give all 18-year-olds a year living in outside communities
- Grand Final: As a post-colonial developing country in the Pacific, this House would prefer to be fully independent than to be in Free Association with our wealthy former colonizer
2018 Nationals
- Round 1: This house would ban unions for workers in high skilled occupations
- Round 2: This house believes that settlements with indigenous groups should focus on current disadvantage rather than historical wrongs
- Round 3: This house would create Government controlled entity to directly undertake housing construction projects
- Round 4: This house would require sperm/egg banks to identify the biological parent at the request of the child
- Round 5: This house believes that the Democrats should prioritise traditional economic and social issues (e.g. cost of living, healthcare, education) over concerns about Trump’s presidency when communicating to voters
- Round 6: This house believes that all art should be displayed with the artist remaining anonymous
- Round 7: This house supports nationalism
- Semi Final: This house supports sanctions being imposed on states that develop nuclear weapons programmes
- Grand Final: This house would require MPs who leave or are expelled from their party caucus to resign from Parliament
2017 Nationals
- Round 1: This house would establish separate academic and vocational senior secondary schools
- Round 2: This house would ban all products which contribute to unequal beauty standards (e.g. makeup, cosmetic surgery, waxing)
- Round 3: This house would aggressively wind down NZ’s dairy industry in the interests of the environment
- Round 4: This house would extend the rights of personhood to certain ‘higher’ animals (e.g., elephants, dolphins, chimpanzees)
- Round 5: This house believes the US should end the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia
- Round 6: This house would ban the publication of political opinion polls
Round 7: This house would introduce a maximum wage - Semi-Finals: This house supports the US government employees ‘resisting’ Trump
- Grand Final: This house regrets the rise of the ‘gig economy’ (e.g., Uber, AirBnB)
2016 Nationals
- Round 1: This house believes that the Government should extend the student loan scheme to students who study overseas, and bond them to return to New Zealand for a period of time after they graduate
- Round 2: This house would require employers to interview candidates in a way that conceals their appearance, gender, ethnicity and age.
- Round 3: This house believes that Britain is better off outside the European Union
- Round 4: This house would introduce a universal basic income
- Round 5: This house believes that international communities should pay developing communities not to extract natural resources
- Round 6: This house believes that privacy is an outdated norm
- Round 7: This house would ban pharmaceutical companies from advertising their products to consumers
- Semi Final: This house believes that states should be allowed to pay other states to relocate and settle refugees
- Grand Final: This house supports building state houses in areas of high socio economic wellbeing
2015 Nationals
- Round 1: This house would ban alternative medicines
- Round 2: This house supports the establishment of exclusive schools for LGBT students
- Round 3: This house believes Obama has betrayed the legacy of the Nobel Peace Prize
- Round 4: This house regrets the commercialisation of indigenous art
- Round 5: This house would not prosecute individuals for minor crimes committed during protests of deaths of minorities at the hands of police officers
- Round 6: This house would televise all major criminal trials
- Round 7: This house believes that the income tax of individuals should be based on the wealth of their parents
- Semi Final: This house supports the partition of Iraq into three states: one for each of the Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish peoples
- Grand Final: This house believes that socially progressive movements in democratic countries should seek social change through the judiciary rather than the legislature
2014 Nationals
- Round 1: That there should be gender quotas in the police force
- Round 2: That we should legalise performance enhancing drugs in sports
- Round 3: That government medical treatment should not be provided to individuals whose health problems are the result of them knowingly engaging in risky activities
- Round 4: That we regret the rise of social media charity and activism campaigns
- Round 5: That governments should heavily subsidise tertiary education in science, technology and engineering at the expense of humanities and the arts
- Round 6: That we should ban private funding of political parties and replace it with a publically funded system
- Round 7: That children should have a financial obligation to support their parents when they retire
- Semi Final: That the news and entertainment media should not depict the full horrors of war
- Grand Final: That socially progressive individuals should boycott companies whose senior management express socially conservative views
2013 Nationals
- Round 1: This House would ban all forms of gambling
- Round 2: This House would subsidise traditional print, radio and TV media in response to the rise of online media
- Round 3: This House prefers elected Islamists to military dictatorships for the Arab World
- Round 4: This House would tie parents’ welfare payments to their children’s health and education outcomes
- Round 5: This House believes the NZ Rugby Union should remove its current ban on overseas based New Zealanders playing for the All Blacks
- Round 6: This House would require both parents to take equal amounts of parental leave
- Round 7: This House would remove all restrictions on immigration from impoverished countries to developed countries.
- Semi Final: This House believes political party leaders should be elected by party members, not MPs
- Grand Final: This House would not prosecute people for filesharing entertainment media on the internet
2012 Nationals
- Round 1: This House would make Te Reo Maori a compulsory subject in all New Zealand schools
- Round 2: This House would make beneficiaries use a payment card which could only be used for essential items
- Round 3: This House believes all states should have the right to develop nuclear weapons
- Round 4: This House believes punishment should never be an aim of the justice system
- Round 5: This House would re-elect Barack Obama
- Round 6: This House would end all funding for high performance sport
- Round 7: This House believes politicians should lead, not follow, public opinion
- Semi Final: This House would privatise all state-owned enterprises
- Grand Final: That people should have to pass a political literacy test to be able to vote
2011 Nationals
- Round 1: This House would reintroduce a youth minimum wage
- Round 2: This House would compel doctors to report suspected cases of domestic violence to the police
- Round 3: This House believes New Zealand should become a republic
- Round 4: This House would impose trade sanctions on nations that refuse to take action on climate change
- Round 5: This House believes the possession of drugs for personal use should not be a crime
- Semi Final: This House would offer amnesty to dictators who step down
Grand Final: That New Zealand needs Don Brash
2010 Nationals
- Round 1: This House would privatise prisons (advised topic area: Privatisation)
- Round 2: This House believes Turkey should join the European Union (advised topic area: The European Union)
- Round 3: This House would legalise voluntary euthanasia
- Round 4: This House supports free tertiary education
- Round 5: This House believes that developing countries should be exempt from measures to combat climate change
- Semi Final: This House believes the Maori Party is good for New Zealand politics
- Grand Final: This House would ban all forms of alcohol advertising
2009 Nationals
- Round 1: This House would means-test superannuation (advised topic area: Superannuation)
- Round 2: This House would abolish trial by jury (advised topic area: Judicial Reform)
- Round 3: This House supports global nuclear disarmament
- Round 4: This House would prevent skilled migrants emigrating from the developing world to the developed world
- Round 5: This House believes fertility treatment is a choice, not a right
- Semi Final: This House would never recognise governments which take power through military coup
- Grand Final: This House would make citizens initiated referenda binding on government
2008 Nationals
- Rounds 1 and 2 (prepared): This House believes New Zealand should elect its MPs through FPP rather than MMP
- Round 3: This House would force large companies to adopt a quota for women in senior positions;
- Round 4: This House would use military action to overthrow the Burmese junta;
- Round 5: This House supports public, rather than private, ownership of utility companies
- Semi Final: This House would offer amnesty to dictators who voluntarily step down
- Grand Final: This House would force journalists to reveal their sources
2018 NZSBP
- Round 1: This house believes that people should be required to obtain a parenting licence in order to have children.
- Round 2: This house believes that all states should have a right to nuclear weapons.
- Round 3: This house believes that Governments should prioritise urban development over assistance for regional areas.
- Round 4: This house regrets the emphasis on personality in politics
- Round 5: This house believes that when prisoners perform labour on public works, they should be entitled to the same rights as all workers (e.g. work is voluntary, receive minimum wage)
- Round 6: This house would allow the public to elect US Supreme Court justices directly.
- Semi Final: This house regrets the norm of monogamy
- Grand Final: This house believes that artists (e.g. authors, film writers or directors) should not provide commentary on the interpretation of their art
2018 Worlds (Zagreb, Croatia)
- Round 1: This house would require professional sports teams to be owned by their local communities instead of individuals or corporations.
- Round 2: This house opposes the development of lethal autonomous weapons.
infoslide: Lethal autonomous weapons are a type of autonomous military robot designed to select and attack military targets (people or installations) without intervention by a human operator. - Round 3: This house regrets the widespread belief that motherhood is a rewarding experience.
- Round 4: This house believes that states should allow all non-citizen migrant workers to vote in local and national elections.
- Round 5: This house supports a school voucher system.
- Round 6: This house would not allow sellers and service-providers to advertise their products beyond showing information and images that reveal technical product details.
- Round 7: This house regrets the Belt and Road Initiative.
- Round 8: This house regrets the rise of call-out culture.
- Partial Double Octo Finals: This house believes that democratic states should not own or run media organisations.
- Octo Finals: This house prefers a world with no belief in the afterlife.
- Quarter Finals: This house believes that foreigners should not be allowed to own land in developing countries
- Semi Finals: This house believes that rehabilitation should be the only consideration in criminal sentencing.
- Grand Final: This house believes that the West should end all arms sales and military cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
2017 Worlds (Bali, Indonesia)
- Round 1: This house would ban for-profit universities and colleges
- Round 2: This house would impose restrictions on the opening of stores by large retail chains in order to protect local businesses
- Round 3: This house would deny tax-exempt status to religious institutions that refuse to appoint female leaders
- Round 4: This house believes that when working to protect rare and endangered species, private entities are more effective than the state
- Round 5: This house would make labour union membership compulsory in large industries
- Round 6: This house believes that when working to protect rare and endangered species, private entities are more effective than the state
- Round 7: This house believes that the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence in Eastern Europe does more harm than good
- Round 8: This house believes states should be able to prioritise asylum seekers on the basis of cultural similarity with the existing population
- Partial Double Octo Finals: This house would legalize surrogate motherhood for profit
- Octo Finals: This house would support military retaliation against cyber attacks
- Quarter Finals: This house would impose additional taxes on employers who use automation to replace human workers
- Semi Finals: This house prefers a benevolent dictatorship better than a weak democracy.
- Grand Final: This house supports restrictions on free speech to combat the rise of right-wing populism
2016 Worlds (Stuttgart, Germany)
- Round 1: This house believes that, after meeting their basic needs, individuals have a moral responsibility to donate their wealth towards poverty alleviation.
- Round 2: This house believes that major film and television awards shows should abolish awards categories separated by gender.
- Round 3: This house would require democratic states to hold a national referendum to ratify free trade agreements.
- Round 4: This house would televise criminal trials.
- Round 5: This house believes that technology companies with significant market shares should not be eligible for patent protection.
- Round 6: This house believes that it should be a criminal offence to make comments which could promote hatred against people of particular races, religions, disabilities, sexualities or gender identities.
- Round 7: This house believes that Obama’s administration has done more harm than good.
- Round 8: This house would require individuals to pass a political general knowledge test in order to vote.
- Partial Double Octo Finals: This house would abolish religious primary and secondary schools.
- Octo Finals: This house believes that large tech companies should refuse to provide data on their customers to governments, even if it involves refusing to comply with a law which compels them to do so.
- Quarter Finals: This house believes that governments should ban their citizens from joining overseas groups fighting against terrorism which are not official military forces.
- Semi Finals: This house believes that versions of history taught by states through the education system should not be designed to promote national pride
- Grand Final: This house believes that states should be allowed to pay other states to relocate and settle refugees
2015 Worlds (Singapore, Singapore)
- Round 1: This house would ban the use of zero-hour contracts
- Round 2: This house would require defendants in criminal trials to be represented exclusively by public defenders
- Round 3: This house supports academic tracking in primary and secondary education
- Round 4: This house would not consume art created by people who have committed deeply immoral acts
- Round 5: This house believes that cities with significant immigrant populations should actively break up ethnic enclaves
- Round 6. This house would ban political opinion polls
- Round 7: This house supports a right to die
- Round 8: This house would forgive Greece’s debt
- Octo Finals: This house would require members of the clergy to report all crimes to authorities including those made in confession.
- Semi Final 1: This house believes that the military struggle against ISIS should be conducted solely by Middle East nations
- Semi Final 2: This house regrets the media focus on the personal lives of politicians
- Grand Final: This house believes that governments should provide a guaranteed universal basic income
2014 Worlds (Bangkok, Thailand)
- Round 1: This house believes that post-revolution states should delegate trials of former rulers and high-ranking officials to the International Criminal Court.
- Round 2: This house believes only liberal democracies should host international sporting events
- Round 3: This house would allow prisoners to volunteer for drug trials in exchange for lighter sentences.
- Round 4: This house would require companies to pay their interns.
- Round 5: This house believes that slum tourism does more harm than good.
- Round 6: This house would not allow unvaccinated children to attend public schools.
- Round 7: This house would lift tax exemptions from religious institutions that refuse to recognize marriage equality.
- Round 8: This house would remove all patents on green technology
- Octo Finals: This house would not prosecute defamation
- Quarter Finals: This house believes labour unions are becoming obsolete
- Semi Finals: This house believes drone strikes are a legitimate tool of foreign policy
- Grand Final: This house believes that an Asean political union is an impossible dream
2013 Worlds (Antalya, Turkey)
- Round 1: This house believes that important decisions about children’s health should be made by medical professionals and not by their parents
- Round 2: This house believes that the media should be prevented by law from intruding the lives of public figures
- Round 3: This house supports greater US military presence in East Asia
- Round 4: This house would allow prisoners to choose death over life sentence
- Round 5 This house would cease the exploitation of resources in the Arctic Region
- Round 6 This house would require government schools to teach religious studies
- Round 7 This house supports sovereign debt default as a legitimate economic strategy for countries
- Round 8: This house would require university students to work in their country of origin for a number of years after graduation
- Octo Finals: This house would cut welfare support on compulsive gamblers
- Quarter Finals: This house believes that social movements in democratic countries should drive social change through the courts rather than the legislature
- Semi Finals This house believes that the government should pay house wives and house husbands for their work
- Grand Final: This house believes that Turkey is better off outside the EU
2012 Worlds (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Round 1: This house would ban alcohol
- Round 2: This house believes that newly democratised Arab nations should not allow religious parties to participate in elections
- Round 3: This house would allow single parents in prison to raise their children behind bars
- Round 4: This house believes that developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration
- Round 5: This house believes that the police should use racial profiling when fighting crime, Definition of racial provided by organizers “the singling out of an individual from a group on the basis of race”
- Round 6: This house believes that the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography
- Round 7: This house supports child labour in the developing world
- Round 8: This house believes that states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights
- Octo Finals: This house believes that the govt should create special schools that teach in endangered indigenous languages
- Quarter Finals: This house believes that Gay rights organizations should out gay public figures
- Semi Finals: This house supports 100% tax on all inherited wealth
- Grand Final: This house regrets South Africa’s decision to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than prosecuting perpetrators of crimes committed under Apartheid
2011 Worlds (Dundee, Scotland)
- Round 1: This house would offer dictators immunity in return for leaving power
- Round 2: This house would allow free distribution of music on the internet
- Round 3: This house believes that Universal Primary Education is a misallocation of resources for the developing world
- Round 4: This house would make voting in national elections mandatory
- Round 5: This house would legalise the sale of human organs
- Round 6: This house would stop sending humans into space
- Round 7: This house believes that women can only achieve equality under a secular system of government
- Round 8: This house would penalise sporting teams for the poor behaviour of their fans
- Octo Finals: This house would abandon nuclear energy
- Quarter Finals: This house supports free immigration
- Semi Final: This house believes that every region should have the right to independent statehood if a majority of its members wish
- Grand Final: This house believes that autocracy is doomed in the age of Facebook
2010 Worlds (Doha, Qatar)
- Round 1: This house believes that we should support military intervention in Somalia
- Round 2: This house believes that we should make physical education compulsory in schools
- Round 3: This house believes that every country should have the right to possess nuclear weapons
- Round 4: This house believes that we should support quotas for women in high government positions
- Round 5: This house believes that doctors should report evidence of marital abuse to the police
- Round 6: This house believes that developing nations should have the right to give priority to development ahead of the environment
- Round 7: This house believes that terrorist suspects should have the right to a trial in civilian courts
- Round 8: This house believes that we should legalise performance-enhancing drugs in sport Octo Finals: This house believes that we should have no law restricting freedom of speech
- Quarter Finals: This house believes that compensation should be paid for the injustices committed by past generations
- Semi Finals: This house believes that the United States should withdraw from the Middle East Grand Final: This house believes that governments should never bail out big companies
2009 Worlds (Athens, Greece)
- Round 1: This house believes that cultural treasures should be returned to their areas of origin
- Round 2: This house would not eat meat
- Round 3: This house would encourage the expanded use of civilian nuclear energy
- Round 4: This house believes that terrorism can never be justified
- Round 5: This house would legalise current technologies for choosing human embryos on the basis of their genetic characteristics
- Round 6: This house would ban smoking in public places
- Round 7: This house believes that public services are best run by private companies
- Round 8: This house believes that minor crimes should be pursued with the same vigour as serious crimes
- Octo Finals: This house would require people to work in return for welfare payments
- Quarter Finals: This house would lower the voting age
- Semi Finals: This house would cut off all development aid to non-democratic countries
- Grand Final: This house believes that governments should grant amnesty to all illegal immigrants
2008 Worlds (Washington DC, USA)
- Round 1: This house supports military intervention to deliver emergency aid in humanitarian crises
- Round 2: This house would ban strikes by those working in essential state services
- Round 3: This house would ban the use of unethically obtained data in scientific research
- Round 4: This house believes that humanities courses should be part of every undergraduate programme
- Round 5: This house would make the directors of multinational companies personally liable for environmental abuses committed by their companies in the developing world
- Round 6: This house would cease the use of detention without trial in the war on terror
- Round 7: This house believes that governments have a duty to bail out failing financial institutions
- Round 8: This house would ban government funding of the arts
- Octo Finals: This house believes that heads of government should be required to have a parliamentary majority to govern
- Quarter Finals: This house regrets the hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
- Semi Finals: This house would drop all US sanctions on Cuba
- Grand Final: This house would expand the permanent membership of the UN Security Council