Wasn't it reassuring to hear some promising promises made by the Prime Minister Chris Hipkins over the weekend?

The promises were apropos the future of apprenticeships and the blinding need to ensure that we have an ongoing supply of tradespeople being brought through the ranks.

Chris Hipkins used his first major speech to his party faithful to promise to keep an existing apprenticeship scheme in place.

He delivered the keynote address to about 400 party faithful at Labour's election year congress in Wellington yesterday.

He said if Labour secured a third term, the party would make the apprenticeship boost scheme permanent.

The programme, which was introduced as a temporary pandemic measure in 2020, pays employers $500 a month over two years for every apprentice they train.

This is the dangling carrot before us that will undoubtedly secure the apprenticeship scheme and create opportunities and help ease skill shortages.

If you’re an employer currently making use of the apprenticeship scheme, what does this promise mean to you?

Could more be done to ensure that more apprentices are trained or is this as good as it gets?

On the other side of the house, also dangling carrots, was news released by national over the weekend regarding a focus on the speed of housing plans.

The National party says its housing growth plan will fast-track developments on new land.

Their housing spokesperson Chris Bishop says the party's proposed housing growth policy would require councils to zone enough land for 30 years of demand.

They’ll have to zone for 30 years of growth immediately, which means that there will be abundant development opportunities into the housing market.

Under a National-led government, Bishop says the policy will allow councils to opt out of the existing Medium Density Residential Zone standards.

Earlier this week, National back downed over its support for denser house zoning.

Both parties appear to be offering very social centric policies, which drags them further into the middle ground, where the bulk of undecided voters sit.

If the policies from both parties continue to emulate each other's, what is it for you that’ll decide which dangling carrot to chase - and ultimately the box you tick in a few months’ time?