The onward march of (market) socialism?

Not really, but I was amused by this story:
The Victorian Government has signed a deal to buy back the state's country rail network if it is returned to power at the election. Victoria's regional freight rail track was sold to Pacific National by the Kennett administration in 1999. Treasurer John Brumby says the Government would buy back the country rail line for $133.8 million. He says the privatisation of the rail network never worked. "It will mean better access for competitors who want to use the network and that's important, so it will drive more competition, it will mean better maintenance, we have committed to spend $25 million over the next year on maintenance of the country network," he said. The Victorian Liberal Party's transport spokesman, Terry Mulder, says a Liberal government would also want to negotiate a buyback of the freight rail network. "We are not in government, we don't have access to the commercial-in- confidence agreements that the government of the day have with Pacific National, we can't negotiate with them as an Opposition to buy, that's a role of government, but that is our intent," he said.
More seriously, policies such as this and the rise of the water issuse point to major changes in state, and potentially national politics. Have any of these trends been predicted by the media elite?