‘No farmers, no food, no future’: Provocative talks win out at Griffith school speaking competition

Talks on the importance of farming, role of feminism, downside of renewables and need to combat offensive humour won out at an inter-school Griffith public speaking competition at Marion Catholic College on Monday (25 November).

Murrumbidgee Regional High School (MRHS) teacher Elizabeth Ridgway and Marian’s Samantha Malagre set up the ‘speakfest’ event to give local students the chance to improve their confidence and develop their speech writing and public speaking skills, with a specific focus on persuasion.

Eleven students each delivered a prepared and impromptu speech to a panel of judges, with MRHS students Allanna King, Flynn Bunn and Benji Brighenti and Marian’s Anna Ooi receiving medals for excelling at the contest.

“I spoke about the importance of farming,” said 13-year-old Benji, the son of citrus growers.

“What do you do without us? No farmers, no food, no future. But we’re not getting any support. The suicide rate for farmers is one every 10 days.

“The government are letting all these big foreign corporations come in and take over. Soon, there’ll be no local farmers left.”

Benji is also concerned about how the big supermarkets treat farmers.

“When we sell our produce to supermarkets cheaply, but when they sell it to their customers, they up the price so much. But we don’t get anything back.

That’s if they sell local. Often, they sell imports and our money goes to other countries; we should be buying fresh produce made locally.”

Allanna gave a perspective on renewable energy you don’t often hear from those her age.

“Using renewable and sustainable energy is unrealistic; it’s not actually accessible to most people because it’s so expensive,” she said.

“A lot of people won’t choose to have electric cars because they cost too much for what they’re worth; there should be more incentives.”

Flynn demonstrated his depth of knowledge with his topic.

“I spoke about different historical events and how we need to educate people about them so they don’t offend when using humour,” he said.

Anna dished up a fiery defence of feminism.

“There were 81 women who have died due to violence at the hands of men this year alone. A lot of regional people don’t get exposed to their information … these issues have led me to want to talk about feminism more and the true purpose of it.”

Ms Ridgway, who is also the regional public speaking co-ordinator, said she hopes her initiative continues to grow.

“We want to give regional communities the same opportunities as you find in Sydney,” she said.

“Once you develop a culture of these things, it gets stronger and they build skills for life.”

If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact:
Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support line – 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467