Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Mayoral candidate's platform: Composting toilets in all Whanganui households

By Nelson Lebo
Whanganui Chronicle·
7 Apr, 2019 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Mayoral candidate has nothing to go on.

Mayoral candidate has nothing to go on.

Only a fool would run for Mayor of Whanganui on a platform of mandatory compost toilets in all households.

Only a fool would adopt the slogan "Our Waste is Our Salvation" and the hashtag #WastedLebo.

Only a fool would make the announcement on the 1st of April.

That's the point. It was an April Fools joke.

Together with Mark Dawson - former Chronicle editor and current stand in for Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham* - I developed the spoof in January 2016. (Yes, I spent three months planning an April Fools joke.) The slogan was my idea and the hashtag was Mark's.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Beyond the absurdity above, the front-page fake news also included references to Brad Pitt in Fight Club, fabricated savings to rate payers totaling $80 million, and a non-existent 280-page manifesto titled What Whaste Whanganui?

Additionally, the article was credited to Rapil Loof.

Despite this ridiculosity, an out-sized portion of the Whanganui community believed the article's truthiness. I've heard stories of panic and phone calls among elected officials.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

One Council hopeful later told me he did not doubt the content of the article. In a letter to the Chronicle Joy Hay asked, "what is the joke?"

It was April 1st, ratepayers would soon be dishing out an additional $38 million for a 'do-over' sewage treatment plant, the contentious issue was in the Chronicle constantly, and a local body election was months away. That was the context for the joke. The "H" reference and Brad Pitt were the whipped cream and cherry on top.

What I didn't realize at the time is the extent to which many people don't see beyond their established stereotypes and prejudices when processing information. Recent research by social scientists found that partisanship influences peoples' views on some issues not based on the issues themselves but based on who presents them.

In part of the experiment the researchers presented generic quotes to participants in three ways: not identifying the speaker; misidentifying the speaker; and, identifying the speaker. Although the sentiment of the quotes was essentially the same whether the source was Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, participants tended to align their responses with their political affiliation. In other words, the messenger appeared to have more influence than the message.

Discover more

Conservation comment: Make sure we protect our region's economy when planting trees

24 Mar 04:00 PM

Conservation Comment: Right trees in right place

25 Mar 03:00 AM
Environment

Conservation Comment: Students' strike for climate change an inspiration

31 Mar 03:50 PM

Three iwi share aspiration for eco-sanctuary with Minister

01 Apr 04:00 PM

Although these findings are especially concerning to journalists and researchers, they should also be of concern to anyone serious about working across party lines to address significant problems facing society whether social, economic or environmental. Effective problem solving requires more focus on policy and less on personality.

These findings appear to align with the increasing influence of confirmation bias due to social media and computer algorithms. According to Wikipedia, "Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses."

I recently listened to two hours of climate change deniers ringing in to Magic Mornings with Peter Williams. The experience was one of complete immersion in confirmation bias.

Of concern to me, confirmation bias stands in the way of evidence-based decision-making, which "helps people make well informed decisions about policies, programs, and projects by putting the best available evidence from research at the heart of policy development and implementation.

This approach stands in contrast to opinion-based policy, which relies heavily on either the selective use of evidence or on the untested views of individuals or groups, often inspired by ideological standpoints, prejudices, or speculative conjecture" (Philip Davies as cited by the International Centre for Policy Advocacy).

My observation over the last decade is that local governments in New Zealand, including our own Council, struggle to embrace evidence-based decision-making, and too often resort to opinion-based policy that results in wasted money and failed projects. This, my friends, is no joke.

* Mark Dawson is not touring with Fleetwood Mac. That would be Neil Finn. Mark is touring with Queen.

Dr. Nelson Lebo is an advocate for evidence-based decision-making and a sense of humour.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Four mayoral candidates each for Whanganui, Rangitikei and Ruapehu

Whanganui Chronicle

NCEA abolished in 'massive' shake-up of NZ’s main secondary school qualification

Premium
Whanganui Chronicle

NCEA performance: See how every high school ranks as Govt scraps qualification


Sponsored

Kiss cams and passion cohorts: how brands get famous in culture

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Four mayoral candidates each for Whanganui, Rangitikei and Ruapehu
Whanganui Chronicle

Four mayoral candidates each for Whanganui, Rangitikei and Ruapehu

Election day is October 11.

04 Aug 02:36 AM
NCEA abolished in 'massive' shake-up of NZ’s main secondary school qualification
Whanganui Chronicle

NCEA abolished in 'massive' shake-up of NZ’s main secondary school qualification

04 Aug 12:10 AM
Premium
Premium
NCEA performance: See how every high school ranks as Govt scraps qualification
Whanganui Chronicle

NCEA performance: See how every high school ranks as Govt scraps qualification

03 Aug 11:05 PM


Kiss cams and passion cohorts: how brands get famous in culture
Sponsored

Kiss cams and passion cohorts: how brands get famous in culture

01 Aug 12:26 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP