Where previous administrations had privatised the payout of compensation for workplace accidents, this government promptly renationalised it. They are now eyeing the railway network which, like Britain's, was sold off in the last decade. The privatised service, Tranz Rail, has been deluged with the same criticisms heard in Britain - over everything from declining safety standards to abandoned rural services. The papers call it Tranz Fail. But New Zealand Labour and its allies refuse to be content with mere rhetorical demands for improvement.
Labour is ready to shove the fat cats to one side and renationalise a chunk of the railway.
As if that was not enough, New Zealand is ready to go further than merely undoing failed privatisations. Any day now it will announce a decision on a new venture - owned and run entirely by the public sector. It is a remarkable transformation. Where once New Zealand seemed bent on shrinking the public sector to anorexic proportions, it is now pumping it full of new blood. For Prime Minister Helen Clark, the turnaround has been dizzying - but essential.