Structure & Organization 1
Every Parli round has exactly two teams of two: the Government, who propose and defend the motion, and the Opposition, who oppose it. By the end of this lesson you will be able to name each debater's role and explain what each team must accomplish to win.
The Government team
The Government side has a Prime Minister (PM), who opens the round by presenting the motion and the case, and a Member of Government (MG), who extends and adds new Government arguments in the middle of the round. The PM speaks first and last; the MG speaks second-to-last for their side. Government's job is to affirm the resolution by defending a specific, debatable interpretation of it, called the case.
The Opposition team
The Opposition side has a Leader of Opposition (LO), who responds to the Government case and can introduce Opposition arguments, and a Member of Opposition (MO), who extends those arguments and answers new Government material. Opposition's job is to prove the resolution, as Government has framed it, should not be adopted — either by refuting the case outright or by presenting a reason the status quo or an alternative is preferable.
Why no evidence cards
Unlike Policy or LD, Parli debaters cannot bring printed evidence into the round; motions are announced only twenty minutes before the round starts. Debaters instead rely on logic, examples from general knowledge, and clear reasoning chains built live. This makes Parli a test of thinking on your feet rather than research depth.
The motion announced is: 'This House would ban the use of solitary confinement in prisons.'
Government reads the motion, decides it will defend a total ban with narrow exceptions for immediate danger, and builds three PM arguments: (1) solitary confinement causes severe psychological harm, (2) it does not reduce prison violence, (3) alternatives like therapeutic housing exist. The LO stands up and previews the Opposition strategy: solitary is sometimes the only tool to protect staff and other inmates, and Government's alternative is unproven and expensive. Neither side has a single card of evidence — both build arguments from reasoning and known facts, like documented psychological studies on isolation that any educated debater would know.
1. Who presents the case first in a Parli round?
Answer all 1 to check.
Government affirms a specific version of the motion while Opposition attacks it, and both build their case live from reasoning rather than evidence.