Of course there is debate.

The reason is that automated tests costs 2-3x as much time upfront. The assumption is then you will recoup that investment in the future. The problem is that automated testing doesn't cover everything so you have to augment it with human testers. Which then begs the question are the human testers being effectively utilised.

And for those of that do develop have a think about all the time spent on buggy web UI testing, screenshot comparison testing, tests being flakey due to software choices etc.