Certainly, as it did in this year's Budget, the Government has acknowledged the need for an economic transformation if New Zealand is to climb back to the top of the OECD rankings and find the money to pay for those wonderful social policies.
True, there are some ideas in the package which would help at the fringes of the economy, such as more forceful measures to promote trade and help exporters, coordinated campaigns to attract foreign investment and provide more venture capital, plans to encourage the formation of industry clusters and boost mentoring networks, promises to make tertiary institutions and Crown research institutes more responsive to commercial needs, and so on.
But, sadly, after two years of bold ministerial speeches, inspiring conferences, groundbreaking research projects, heavyweight advisory committees and thoughtful reports, most of what is on offer is still at a preliminary stage and will have to undergo further consideration, study and discussion in more assorted task forces and advisory boards before anything practical emerges.
Worse, there is nothing to indicate that the Government understands that for entrepreneurs to flourish, for exporters to grow, for clusters to work and for overseas investors to be interested, New Zealand has to provide the right business environment.
Furthermore, that environment has to be not merely nearly as good as in other countries, but superior, in order to offset our disadvantages of size and distance from our markets.
Clearly, that situation does not exist at present because, as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report found, New Zealand has one of the highest levels of business start-ups in the world and one of the worst rates of converting them into significant businesses.
New Zealand has about 400,000 businesses. If just 1 per cent of those grew to international proportions - in fact if only 0.1 per cent did - our economic future would look secure. But that isn't happening.
On the contrary, the latest business data from Statistics NZ shows that trend is getting worse. In 1996, for instance, the average number of staff employed by a business unit in this country was 4.66, but by last year that average had fallen to 4.04.
Why? The consistent answer from the people running those businesses is that red tape makes it too difficult and the level of taxes makes it not worthwhile expanding.
Despite that, the few specific promises in the Prime Minister's statement were not for a better business environment but for still more red tape and still higher costs.
There will, she confirmed, be legislation to place a two-year moratorium on the release of genetically modified organisms, implement the Kyoto Protocol, give local government wider powers to spend money, change the rating system in a fashion likely to increase the burden on commercial properties and remove the right of businesses to vote in local elections, introduce heavier penalties and stricter rules for workplace safety, provide for paid parental leave, increase the minimum wage and increase the cost of holiday pay.
For those hoping for a different approach Helen Clark had this to say: "While some still hanker after lower taxes and further deregulation as the key economic prescription, I believe many more are seeing the strategic focus the Government is adopting as more likely to contribute to sustained growth."
Whether she is right, whether the Government's approach will work, only time will tell. But the indications are not promising.
It is hard to see an environment which makes it even more difficult to develop a business inspiring many firms to reach the point where they are interested in the clusters, forward marketing bases, strategic taskforces and the other goodies the Government seems keen on.
Read the full reports:
Government of New Zealand
Growing an innovative New Zealand
Part 2
Herald features
Catching the knowledge wave
Global Kiwis
Proud to be a Kiwi
Our turn
The jobs challenge
Common core values
