1[Caucus] National's yin and yang v Labour's frugal fear factor Analysis: With little money in the government's coffers heading into Election 2023, the Caucus podcast looks at how the two main parties plan to use fear, frugality and friendliness to win your vote. Analysis: Labour's campaign strategy of stinginess has started to take shape, as it rolled out tax and welfare policies this week. Labour's big reveals - taking the GST off fruit and vegetables and increasing in-work tax credits by $25/week in 2024 - also pulled back the curtain on how it hopes to steal the election from National and ACT. While a big fuss was made of the details of the GST policy in particular - and its rejection by tax and health experts - this week's Caucus podcast discussed the politics behind the policy. The design flaws have been well traversed and Finance Minister Grant Robertson's discomfort with the policy couldn't be clearer, as was Jacinda Ardern's, David Cunliffe's and David Shearer's in previous iterations of Labour. It's a tortured political manoeuvre for Robertson, who clearly is no fan of the policy. He told the Auckland Business Chamber last March that it would make no sense take the GST off fresh beetroot and leave it on tinned beetroot if you wanted to help low income New Zealanders, yet that's exactly what he's just promised to do. He has to argue the new Grocery Commissioner will ensure that GST-savings will be passed to the consumer, when reports in Britain have shown the removal of the 5% VAT from period products led to just a 1% cut in prices. You know who also has a Grocery Commissioner (or a Grocery Code Adjudicator)? Britain. As Guyon Espiner mentions in the podcast, it's also a tough sell for Labour as a party that likes to pride itself on backing evidence-based policy, as seen during its pandemic response. But this is a different Labour Party with a different leader. And Chris Hipkins' Labour is pitching itself as a careful economic manager, a safe pair of hands during a cost of living crisis, a party led by a working-class lad who knows times are tough and is reining in those big-spending lefties in his ranks. It's determined to give National no scope to use its usual 'typical tax and spend Labour' charge. Indeed, this week it looks like Labour is trying to turn the tables on National. It has been proudly stingy with these big announcements that, frankly, weren't that big. Where Dunedinite Robertson is looking to be true to himself this campaign, it's in allowing his inner Presbyterian to come through. 'There's not room at this election for big promises,' he declared. Trust Labour to 'be careful with the government's books'. Labour is making a virtue of frugality and is turning National's traditional attack lines back on them. National's Nicola Willis this week called Labour's policy 'miserly'. And Labour probably doesn't mind that as they try to paint themselves as stingy and proud of it. They hope that they can give a little here and there and that voters will do the maths - $4.25/week off fruit and veges, $5 off prescriptions, cheaper public transport... every little helps. And that will stand on contrast to National's tax cuts and Willis' promise that voters will 'get more out of us than they’ll ever get out of Labour'. On the flip side, National is looking to present a warmer, more accessible face to the same voters. Where Labour typically tries to paint National as heartless Scrooges, the blue team is being careful to empathise with people during these tough times, rather than telling them to cut costs and pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Deputy leader Willis is key to that. In a rare move she's on National's billboards beside leader Christopher Luxon. Polls show New Zealanders are struggling to trust Luxon, so Willis is the trust factor. Together they are the yin and yang for National, showing that not only are they more competent economic managers than Labour, they get you as well. When Robertson lost his cool this week and accused Willis of lying over a mistake in Labour's policies, she just said he was stressed and needed a break ... and she was happy to give him one. Mic drop, as Lisa Owen says in the podcast. Given the lack of big budget policies this election, the emphasis looks like to be on each major party warning us off the other. In other words, the fear factor will be big this year. Coalition of chaos or coalition of cuts? Labour has leaned into it this week, rolling out the lines that National MPs are in it for themselves, are looking after their millionaire mates, not ordinary New Zealanders. Warning against a return of prescription charges, foreign home buyers, full-fare public transport... the list goes on. Forget the big spending this election or promises of a brave new world. Both main parties know there's no money. Instead, look for lots of warnings about how bad the other lot will be. * Tim Watkin is a founder of political news website Pundit, has a long career in journalism and broadcasting, and now runs the Podcast team at RNZ. [Season 2023, Episode 03, Thursday 17 August 2023, 14:30]

2[Voices] World Press Photo Exhibition returns to NZ After a three-year absence, the most powerful images from professional photojournalists across the globe are now showing in Auckland at the World Press Photo Exhibition. In this episode of Voices, Justin Gregory speaks to the exhibition’s curator Marika Cukrowski (who is visiting from Amsterdam) and one of the winning contestants, Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy. Mohamed Mahdy's photo series Here, The Doors Don't Know Me is one of the standouts at this year's exhibition and won the Open Format Award. In it, Mahdy combines found imagery with his own photographs of daily life in the small fishing village of Al Max, near Alexandria. Two years ago, the Egyptian government began evicting people from their homes in Al Max and relocating them to housing several kilometres away from the canals, citing the risk of rising sea levels. Already a third of the community has been relocated, but not all the residents believe these evictions are really necessary. Mohamed says the name of his series - Here, The Doors Don't Know Me - was inspired by a conversation he had with a local woman. The World Press Photo Exhibition is showing at Auckland's Smith and Caughey Building until 20 August. [Monday 14 August 2023, 05:00]