Nathan, I think we'd all hope that a party with some decent far ranging policies and less BS would win voters, but in this day an age, reverting back to that, and actually admitting they'd made a mistake or two (and dumping a lot of the current crap) would see them publicly crucified.
It's ironic that everyone sits back and screams that they'd love an honest politician, yet if someone admits they are wrong or changes their mind (heaven forbid) in parliament, the media starts a massive beat up.
The day that people start to respect honesty in politics will be a good one. Though I was never a huge Rudd fan (saw him as very contrived, a control freak and an all round chameleon) one of his better qualities was admitting he got it wrong a few times, which IMO showed a lot of back bone.
Longer terms would probably benefit the country though, the current system means that by the time a party is in, they have little time to kick goals before campaigning about what they have done in need to get re elected.
In many ways it is a real pity Labour got rid of Rudd. He may well have scraped in even after the mining tax punt, and into a proper second term would have seen him get a bit done.
