In the past few years, this style of debating has increased in usage dramatically throughout Australia and New Zealand as well as the broader Asian region, but in the case of Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the format is also used alongside the British Parliamentary Format.
The context in which the Australia-Asia style of debate is used varies, but it is commonly used in Australia at the primary and secondary school level, ranging from small informal one-off intra-school debates to larger more formal inter-school competitions with several rounds and a finals series which occur over a year.
Each team must convince the adjudicator(s) (judge(s)) that their side of the topic is correct and that their opposition's is incorrect.
Each speaker has a set speaking time according to the rules agreed to by both teams.
Some competition rules specify that a speaker must complete his or her speech within 30 seconds either side of the final bell, the warning bell acting only as a warning and not as an indicator that a speaker must stop speaking.
Short interjections which can be questions, comments, or statements are called Points of Information.
First speakers should first give a brief introduction, contextualising the debate, and perhaps exploring the basic philosophical questions raised by the topic.
The first negative speaker should always make some points in rebuttal at this stage of the speech.
The goal of the third speaker should not be simply to pick out technical and practical flaws in the opposing team's case, but to undermine the deepest, most basic philosophical premises of the opposing team's argument.
Reply speakers should speak as if they are adjudicators passing judgment on the debate, although of course always looking favourably on their own side.
In formal debating contexts speakers are scored according to three categories: Matter, Manner and Method.
Matter is the category that assesses the content of a speaker's speech which includes the arguments and evidence that they present to support their team's side of the topic.
Manner is the category that assesses the way in which a speaker presents their material and usually includes factors such as eye contact, gesturing and voice projection.
The specific assessment criteria of Matter, Manner and Method depends on the rules under which the debate is conducted.
In the event that there are several rounds, teams generally are given a preparation time ranging from several weeks to half an hour.
The order in which the additional speakers speak is dependent on the specific rules that the Affirmative and Negative Teams have agreed to debate under.
This format is primarily used at a university level, and is used by SAAUCC for intercollege debates.