You know it's election year when the babies are wheeled in for photo ops. It's so cheesy that you'd think it should be up their with the anti smacking debate, or at the very least child abuse should be looked at.

A nice young couple were paraded in front of the cameras in the office where Head Girl Helen's played host to the likes of the Dalai Lama in the recent past.

The fact that they were struggling to make ends meet, not to mention trying to keep their toddler still for long enough to get a good shot, was neither here nor there. They were there to celebrate the fact that half a million Kiwis have now signed up for Kiwisaver and they were putting their baby forward as the latest customer.

He might not be old enough to vote, but he is still able to become a Kiwisaver even though he was clearly unaware of it.

Head Girl Helen, who it has been said, handles babies like used colostomy bags, kept a respectable distance but at least was a little gooey when required for the cameras. This baby is in for an interesting life with his smiling mum telling reporters she was trying to get him to say compounding interest.

This wasn't just some couple plucked at random to sing the praises of Kiwisaver. After the mum said the reporters were rather cynical her hubby admitted he had been a card carrying member of the Labour lot and even though his membership had lapsed of late, he still supported the cause.

It was a nice little event with bubs posing in front of, and trying to pick the icing off, the cake which is what The Head Girl hopes to be doing later this year.

The cake was modelled in the shape of a pig without wings. Rob Muldoon would have been proud!

Barry Soper

Political Editor

Newstalk ZB