MUNA 2015 Awards

Team Germany from Kotara High School, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Charlestown, were judged the premier debating team at MUNA 2015. They received the Excellent Achievement award. This team will be sponsored by District 9670 to attend the MUNA Nationals in Canberra in August 2015.

District Governor, Gerard McMillan and Yvonne Palmer with Jake Rexter and Lena Payne of Kotara High School


Team Italy from Mount View High School, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cessnock, were awarded the Peace Prize for their advocating issues related to world peace.

District Governor, Gerard McMillan and Yvonne Palmer with Marnie Bullen and Cameron Abbott of Mount View High School

MUNA is this month!

District 9670 MUNA is three weeks away. Team members, make sure you do some solid research ranging from what the United Nations is and does, about your allocated country and its bloc relationships plus the big issues on the world scene.

Nineteen teams have nominated from schools in the Hunter Valley area and the coastal portions of the Rotary District.
They are: Bulahdelah Central School, Dungog High School, Hunter River High School, Hunter School Performing Arts, Kotara High School, Lambton High School, Merewether High School, Merriwa Central School, Mount View High School, *Muswellbrook High School, Newcastle High School, Scone Grammar School, Singleton High School, St Joseph's High School Aberdeen, St Paul's High School Booragul, Warner's Bay High School and *West Wallsend High School.
* Two teams.

2015 Registration Update

2 March 2015: A supplementary Email message will be sent to all schools with the 2015 List of Countries and the 2015 Behaviour Code. These documents are also available for download on the 2015 Resources for Download tab on this site.

District 9670 Rotary Clubs will also receive their MUNA sponsorship information package for 2015.

District 9670 MUNA 2015 Registration

Wednesday 11 February: The Registration Packages have been sent to all secondary schools in Rotary District 9670. Please advise MUNA asap if your school is confident of fielding a MUNA team in 2015. Your response will allow MUNA to assist with identifying a potential sponsoring Rotary club at the earliest opportunity.

MUNA 2014 Nationals

The MUNA Nationals event was held at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra in Canberra on Friday 15 to Sunday 17 August 2014.

The winners of the District 9670 MUNA, Alessandra Buxton and Dylan Sullivan from the Hunter School of Performing Arts were nominated to attend the MUNA Nationals. The teams nominated for the nationals may take a third debater and Arlo Alexander-Meylan from the HSPA's second team was selected to attend. 

The National Model United Nations Assembly in Canberra saw 64 students in 24 teams debating six issues of global importance: 

• the return of cultural property to countries of origin; 
• the situation in Syria; 
• the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people; 
• the territorial integrity of the Ukraine; 
• protection of human rights and the fight against terrorism; and 
• treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.

The District 9670 team 'represented' the nation of Cuba in Canberra and after an excellent competition were chosen winners of MUNA Nationals event.  Well done and congratulations to Arlo Alexander-Meylan, Alessandra Buxton and Dylan Sullivan (pictured left to right below).

Images sourced from MUNA National Facebook page.

MUNA 2014 - A Great Day

Eighteen teams participated in our District 9670 Model United Nations Assembly.  Thank you to Muswellbrook Shire Council for use of the Council Chambers, a perfect venue, and to the Rotary Club of Muswellbrook for their organisation and hospitality.  

To the adjudicators and the observing Rotarians it became obvious that some excellent research had been undertaken in the lead up to the event.

Congratulations to the winning teams: 

Excellent Achievement award, and will represent District 9670 at the National MUNA, at Old Parliament House, in August awarded to Hunter School of Performing Arts, Broadmeadow team (HSPA Team 1).

Peace Prize for a significant contribution to the promotion of peace at the Rotary District 9670 MUNA, awarded to the St Mary's High School, Gateshead team.

MUNA 2014 - Session 1

The MUNA teams with their counsellors and the Rotary visitors were hosted at the MUNA Dinner function at the John Hunter Motel, Muswellbrook on Friday 23 May 2014.

After the welcomes an enjoyable meal each team gave a short introduction to themselves and their team.

Our MUNA event started at 8:30am on Saturday 24 May.

A special thank you to Banlaw Pty Ltd at Gateshead for assistance with the printing of the main programme booklet. Much appreciated Bill and Bucko.

The MUNA Nationals

Claire Windeyer, of Mudgee High School

HSIE Teacher, Year Adviser, ESL Teacher

At the MUNA District 9760 Dinner in Muswellbrook, NSW on Friday 24 May 2013, Claire shared her thoughts and experiences in taking a team from Mudgee to the National MUNA in Canberra in 2011.

"This is the 12^th district MUNA I have brought teams to from Mudgee High School. In 2011 one of my teams was selected to represent district 9670 at the National MUNA in Canberra.

The team chose to represent the State of Israel at both the district and the national MUNA.

National MUNA provided the students with an outstanding opportunity to further develop their international diplomacy skills, building on the experience they had here at district MUNA.

Upon arrival on the Friday night all the teams met each other at the accommodation site, which was a Sport and Rec facility with large scale accommodation. After dinner we met with two representatives from the United States Embassy. They spoke about their jobs, international law and relations and the very delicate process of international diplomacy. Students were able to ask questions and open discussions were had between the students and the embassy representatives.

On the Saturday and Sunday we went to Old Parliament House where the MUNA was to be held. The teams set themselves up in the old House of Representatives, sitting in the places where our Australian politicians sat from 1927 to 1988. Sitting on those big old green bench seats and speaking across the room to everyone, stepping into the footsteps of politicians of the past was such an interesting experience to witness. To think that it was in that room that the Australian laws were passed for 60 years!

The resolutions that were up for discussion were of a similar nature to what you will be discussing tomorrow. Resolutions on Human Rights, Global Security and the Environment.

On the Saturday night we attended a large conference dinner at Australian National University. This dinner was attended by all the participants at national MUNA, the two US embassy representatives that we had met the night before, as well as a number of other embassy representatives from other countries. We did not get the opportunity to meet anyone from the Israeli embassy, however that certainly would have been a significant highlight!

Going to national MUNA was certainly a buzz for the students and for Mudgee High School. However, there can only be one team chosen for that position from the district MUNA each year. So you need to make the most out of this opportunity here at the district level, enjoy every moment, learn from everyone around you.

I think the biggest thing I have learnt from watching students participate in MUNA over the past 12 years is that international diplomacy requires a few key virtues, if you want it to work:

• Patience – take the time to let others speak and put forward their point of view, don’t be a hurry to tell everyone what you think before you know your audience.
• Respect – take care to demonstrate respect towards other people, opinions, ideas and cultures. You do this by listening and consulting, not by arguing. You may not agree with someone else’s opinion, but you certainly should not be rude or insulting about your disagreement.
• Genuine care – if you have a genuine care for an issue it will show when you speak about it. This alone can be quite persuasive. International diplomacy is not about jamming your opinion at everyone else, it is about gently and gradually persuading others to see things from your side. In the process you may actually discover that there is a totally different side which none of you had believed was possible.
• Consultation – this is a way of speaking which allows you to stay open to thought, growth and positive influence. You may like to change your mind about your standpoint on an issue. Be open to this. If we all stayed firmly on our standpoint in our own little corner, change and growth would never happen.

 So be prepared to change your mind, be prepared to think, be prepared to learn."