‘The Sausage Machine Has Had Its Day’ Bear with me a little in this story…when I was in school in Year 7 in 1971, I witnessed a debate on the abovementioned topic in the State Debating Championship. A quirky topic, but it eventually resonated with me, at least in part because of the team members who included my cousin (now Dr Peter Harper); Graeme Innes (Graeme has been Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner for the past seven years and has also served as Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner. He also happens to be legally blind, and used Braille Palmcards in debating); and the School Captain Ivan Paget who was the Third Speaker and Debating Captain. These three became the NSW Debating Champions and this was from a State School competing against the big name Independent schools. These were high achievers and they could make mincemeat of any sausage machine topic.