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2026 Potential Persuasive topics - Coggle Diagram
2026 Potential Persuasive topics
Topics you should avoid
Stuff that shows up in year 9 debates. Your target audience are not high-schoolers. Also, once you are out of high school, this crap is incredibly boring.
They should/shouldn't sell junk food at the canteen
Cats vs Dogs
Stuff that isn't actually a controversial issue
Video games do/do not lead to violence
No one has actually thought this for decades. There are only two times this comes up.
One is after school shootings in the USA, and it only comes up then to move discussion away from gun laws. No one takes it seriously. Even when Republicans are in charge of state or federal governments and bring it up, they stop talking about it once the shooting is out of the news. Trump brought up after the Majory Stoneman Douglas High shooting and then didn't do anything. It has never been a real issue. There is a reason why Australia and Japan (two other countries where violent video games are popular) haven't banned them. Rates of violence among teens are going down, yet video game sales are going up.
Call of Duty
is not the reason your American peers have bulletproof plates in their backpacks or why some of my stupid American peers want to carry a pistol to class.
The second is when someone who plays video-games has a persecution complex and wants to pretend their hobby is "under-attack". Video-games are more popular than ever and cultural critque is healthy for any artistic medium, but some people who lack media literacy get scared at the thought of intelligent discussion.
Topics that are better suited to legal studies, economics or science class essays
Would X help with Y?
Questions like "Would nuclear power plants help address climate change concerns?" are bad because the answer should be based entirely on the science. You could get survey results of one million people saying yes, but what matters is what the science shows. A topic like "Australia should/shouldn't adopt nuclear power?" can work beacause you can persuade people based on multiple factors and there are hypothetical arguments that acknowledge the scientific reality while advising for the other option for political/social/economic reasons.
Topics where your audience have recently made a decision.
You can't write about voting/not voting for Trump. The Americans had their election so it is too late to convince people to not vote for him. "You should not like Trump" is bad topic. You could write about individual political actions he does and the specific responses you think people should do, but you need to make care to still write a persuasive piece. If your article can be summed up as "Trump does [insert thing]. People who need [insert thing] will suffer." then it isn't really a persuasive peice, it is just a news article. You will need a specific call to action that goes beyond thinking something is bad.
Something more like "[current president]'s idea/policy is so bad, people should actively resist it by doing the following things. Some of these ideas might be/are illegal. Do them anyway."
Never pick a topic/position because you think Mr DQ likes that position. I have given great marks to articles I thought supported immoral ideas and I have given depressing marks to articles were I even volunteered for that cause in my free time. I am marking your use of persuasive techniques, your selection and manipulation of an audience's emotions, the logical consistency of your argument and your call to action. If I give your work an A+, I am still not endorsing your argument.
Politics
Issues with specific bills or public statements from prominent Australian politicans.
Police reform
Protest laws
International politics (think about who your audience is, the persona you use and the goal of your piece)
Luigi Mangione
The current state of leadership in the Coalition, and how conservatives in Australia should change tactics
Are the Labor party living up to the leftist desires of their voters and how can their voters more directly impact the party's direction.
Technology
AI and concerns about misinformation, propaganda, automation, or any other real problem (no terminator fan-fiction). The slop bots aren't going to kill anyone on purpose.
The creators of deepfake tools should be held legally responsible when their technology is used to harass or demean others.
Being rich enough to make new technology doesn't mean you are smart enough to use it. (see oceangate submarine)
Satya Nadella doesn't like it when we call AI "slop". He should stop making crappy and useless software which functions poorly, harms people's cognitive processes and creates CSAM for creeps.
Small correction here, AI being used to make abuse material of people of all ages, not just children.
General tips
Be provocative with your headlines. Say you want to write that Australia's rates of domestic violence reveals that misogyny is ingrained in our police force, political leadership and general community. The headline "Australia's rates of domestic violence reveals that misogyny is ingrained in our police force, political leadership and general community" isn't going to get as much attention as the idea deserves. Many readers find it difficult to decode high-register vocabulary. That sentence uses a lot of it. This topic is provocative, but high-register vocabulary has a habit of blunting the emotional sting of ideas. It is also too long for a headline.
What about "Give us girls the guns!" as a headline and "Since police and politicians are failing to stop violence against women, we should be allowed to arm ourselves." as a sub-heading. The writer wouldn't actually be arguing that Australia shoud legalise guns for women, but could use these to get attention and even write a hypothetical/satirical opening paragraph to highlight the failures of existing approaches. Keep in mind that "King Hits/Coward Punchs" have killed less than 200 people since 2000, yet we have strict "one-punch" laws such as an 8-year mandatory minimum sentence (and the average mandatory minimum for sexual assault across Australia is 5-6 years for
repeat offenders
)
Don't promise problem free or magic solutions because it makes you sound like a moron.
Say you want to write about how medicare should recieve enough funding that no Australian pays a gap and that dental is now included. That is a fine topic. If you never address the facts that this would cost more money and that the revenue would come from taxes, you seem like a fool. You can argue that many of the funds could come from cuts to existing services or increased/new taxes only on companies or individuals that make X money per year, but you need address the obvious real world obstacles or you will sound ignorant.
Pick your target audience and be specific
When I ask you who your target audience is, if you answer with "everyone" or "anyone", I want you know that I am deeply unimpressed. Pick a specific audience so you can tailor all of your techniques, arguments and approaches to them specifically. A student who selects a specific target audience and thoughtfully plans how to persuade them will get a much better grade than someone who uses less effective techniques because they want to please everyone.
Pick a real world publication for your piece
Adopt a persona for your writing
It is generally easier more interesting against the status quo
Sports
corruption
disrespect
Players on players
Fans on Players
Organisations
While gambling ads continue to be in sports, suggesting that any Australian sport promotes a healthly lifestyle is a pathetic joke.
Should Australia rethink of glorification of sporting stars?
You should boycott the 2026 World Cup/FIFA
Naomi Osaka and discussion of Tennis sportmanship (could also look at race when you think about how her match with Serena Williams was discussed)
Art
Is AI art actually art or just complex plagiarism?
[insert artist] is pushing the boundaries of...
Art should push boundries and that means you will find some art distasteful.
Cultural
Should we allow single-sex schools to continue to exist?
Sexism
Be specific. You can't just write about how sexism is bad.
Racism
Be specific. You can't just write about how racism is bad.
The existence of hostile architecture in a society is evidence of the moral failings of its people.
Streamers and podcasters need to be held to a higer standard. And so do their fans.
We should be more willing to speak ill of the dead. Yes, even right after they die. (I wrote this after Queen Lizzie died)
Don't get married
Environmental
Encouraging recycling among the public is just one of many strategies used by governments and companies to avoid doing the actual work required to help the environment
The whales that attacked and sunk billionaires' boats are cool and we should follow their lead.