We need a nanny state?
Tuesday 16 August 2011
The Great Hall, Quadrangle, the University of Sydney
From internet filtering to junk food advertising, everyone has an opinion on how much government should be able to regulate our lives. Does government edict save lives, improve our social well-being and protect the vulnerable or does it interfere with our fundamental freedom and the incentive to take responsibility for our own actions? Does it hamper our need to experiment, take risks and the challenges that ensure we mature as individuals and as a society?
Poll results
At each IQ² debate the audience is polled on the topic, both before and after the debate takes place. Here are the results for this debate:
| Pre-debate poll | Post-debate poll | |
|---|---|---|
| For: | 28% | 67% |
| Undecided: | 22% | 6% |
| Against: | 50% | 27% |
Watch the video
Speakers
For:
- Simon Chapman is Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney. His book Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control: Making Smoking History (2007) outlines his leadership in the tobacco control campaign.
- Christopher Zinn is the Director for Communications at CHOICE, an independent publisher of consumer information, an active advocacy group and the public face of the Australia Consumers’ Association (ACA).
- Patrick Bateman is currently completing his Law degree. He is winner of the University’s Justice Kirby Plain Speaking Competition, the Intercol Oration and the World Universities Public Speaking Championship.
Against:
- Chris Berg is a Research Fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs, a public policy think tank “dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom.” He is a regular columnist with the Sunday Age and ABC’s The Drum.
- Eleanor Jones is a fourth year Arts/Law student. She was the Director of the University of Sydney Union Debates Program in 2010 and she competed in the finals of both the Austral-Asian and World Debating Championships.
- Rowan Dean is Executive Creative Director for Euro RSCG, and an advertising media specialist. He is a regular social media commentator with his own blog and is a frequent guest panelist on The Gruen Transfer.
