2012 kicked off to a great start for Auckland Debsoc with 2 teams, Auckland A and Auckland B breaking to the finals rounds at the World Universities’ Debating Championships held in Manila, Philippines.

Auckland A consisting of Stephanie Thompson and Ben Milsom made the octo-finals and both ranked in the top 50 speakers of the tournament.

Auckland B consisting of Nupur Upadhyay and Josh Baxter won their octo-final and made it to the quarter-finals where they were unfortunately knocked out.

Auckland C consisting of Max Lin and Todd Livingstone also did incredibly well, keeping in contention for the break right up until the end.

Congratulations to all six speakers for outstanding results at worlds!

Hi everyone,
 
The AGM is this Thursday at 6pm in Stone Lecture Theatre.  Click here for further details.  Contrary to my previous email, if you wish to propose a motion (to amend the Constitution or otherwise), you do not need to give written notice.  You may simply propose it on the night.  However, we have received three notices of constitutional amendments which you can see below. 
 
Note that constitutional amendments affecting elections (e.g. expanding the size of the Executive or altering the voting process) do not take effect until filed with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies (see clause 11.2 of the Constitution), so they will not affect this election if passed.
 
Amendment #1
 
Amend Clause 5.1.5  to read:

5.1.5. Between one and five other General Members of the Society’s Executive.
 
Amendment #2
 
7.4.7 (and all its sub sections) shall be repealed and replaced with the following:

7.4.7 In the case of the vote for President, Vice-President, Treasurer and General Member in Charge of Women’s and Minorities Affairs:
7.4.7.1 Each election shall be help separately. Everyone eligible to vote shall have one vote and be able to rank the candidates. Each voter can rank as many or as few candidates as they like.
7.4.7.2 Voters will rank candidates by putting a “1″ beside the name of their first preference candidate, a “2″ beside the name of their second preference candidate and so on.
7.4.7.3 A candidate is elected to the position if they achieve a majority of the votes (50% + 1) or if they are the only candidate who has not been eliminated during the counting process set out below.
7.4.7.4 The first count of the votes is based on the first preference of voters. If none of the candidates reach a majority of the first preference votes then the candidate with the fewest first preference votes will be eliminated and their votes redistributed in line with the second preferences indicated on each voter’s ballot. This process, eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes and redistributing those votes in line with the ranking listed on each voter’s ballot, will continue until a candidate receives the majority of the votes or there is only one candidate left. If a voter’s ballot has been exhausted (the voter has not ranked any of the candidates who are still standing) then that ballot will be no longer considered in the counting of the votes. 
7.4.7.4 In the event that two or more candidates are tied for the lowest number of votes the following provisions (7.4.7.5 and 7.4.7.6) shall apply to determine which candidate is to be eliminated and their votes redistributed.
7.4.7.5 For the election of the President, the scrutineers will determine, randomly, who is to be eliminated by writing the names of the candidates who are tied on a piece of paper and putting those into a hat. One of the scrutineers will then pull a name out of the hat and that person will be eliminated and their votes redistributed.
7.4.7.6 In the case of the other elections, the President-Elect will determine who is eliminated when there is a tie.
7.4.8.2 will be amended and will read:
7.4.8.2 Each eligible voter, on a single ballot, may cast a single vote for up to three different candidates. To clarify, there will be no ability to rank candidates in the election of General Members of the Executive.
 
Amendment #3

Amend clause 6.7 to read:

Minutes shall be kept as a true and accurate account of all Society Executive and general meetings. These minutes shall be made available within two weeks of the date of the meeting to all members, in a manner the Society Executive deems appropriate. 

Cheers,
Steph

Hi everyone,

This Thursday

We’re meeting in Northey Lecture Theatre at Law School at 6pm for a pro debate, followed by another round of AUBPO, then drinks.  Check out current speaker rankings here.

AGM

As indicated in my last email, our AGM will take place on Thursday 6 October at 6pm in Stone Lecture Theatre.  To move or second motions, or to vote, you must have attended at least three debating meetings, including the opening night function, any internal or external tournaments (e.g. Thropy, Auckland IV…), or any normal club night.  If anyone feels that someone has not met these criteria they may approach a member of the Executive during the evening who will determine whether the person is eligible to vote by a vote of the Executive.  The agenda for the night is as follows:

Reports of the 2011 Executives

- President’s Report and questions
- Treasurer’s Report and questions
- Vice-President’s Report and questions
- Report of the General Executive Member in Charge of Women’s and Minorities’ Affairs and questions
- Questions to the entire Executive
- The General Executive members will not be providing oral reports as the club’s activities will be covered in the other reports.  However, every Executive member will write a 1 page report and copies of this will be emailed out before and circulated during the AGM.  You may also ask any questions of any Executive member during the question session.

Constitutional amendments

- If you wish to propose a motion to amend the Constitution (or indeed any motion), you must give written notice of the motion within 7 days of the AGM, i.e. by 6pm this Thursday.  We will then email out the proposed motions so that people have time to reflect upon them before the AGM.
- In the time period between the reports and elections, we encourage you only to propose motions that affect the elections, because otherwise we will run out of time for the elections.  If you have other motions, we suggest you give us notice of them, and we will address them after the elections if there is time (unlikely, we haven’t had time at previous AGMs), or call another SGM before the end of the year.
Election of the 2012 Executive
- There are 7 positions open: President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Executive Member in Charge of Women’s and Minorities Affairs, and 3 General Executive Member positions.
- The President has 20 minutes to speak, the Vice-President and Treasurer 7 minutes each, the Women’s/ Minorities Officer 5 minutes, and the 3 General members 3 minutes.  Questions will go into additional time.  Powerpoint slides may be used for all positions but General Member.
- The elections of the first four positions will be held separately and sequentially.  The last 3 will be held concurrently.  Each person will have 3 votes which must be cast for different candidates. The 3 candidates with the most votes win
- You may run for as many positions as you want, but obviously if you win one position you may not stand for further positions
- You do not need to give notice of your intent to run, but you do need someone to nominate and second you at the meeting

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Steph

Auckland IV was a great tournament and everyone had an awesome weekend. Thanks to all the judges and in particular CA Chris Bishop.

Congratulations to the champions Josh Baxter and Nick Cross who took the final from Opening Opposition.

Well done also to the other three teams in the final:

OG: Sebastian Templeton + Nupur Upadhyay

CG: Conrad Grimshaw + Hamish Saunders

CO: Olivia Hall + Ben Milsom

Congratulations  to Sebastian Templeton who received the Best Speaker award. The top ten speakers of the tournament are also to be commended for performing extremely well and they are as listed below.

1. Sebastian Templeton

2. Joshua Baxter

3. Ben Milsom

4. Hamish Saunders

5. Nupur Upadhyay

6. Nick Cross

7. Stephanie Thompson

8. Conrad Grimshaw

9=.  Olivia Hall, Ralph Hall

Thanks to everyone for coming and we hope to see you at this tournament again next year!