Mark Connor gave a bit of a nice summary which I pretty much agree with, except of this bit ::
Over time, his popularity declined and he didn't deliver on a number of his promises. Was this due to an inability or lack of discipline to implement change or did he lack internal support for his change agenda?
I'd say he is right but I'd also say that the opposition since Abbott was highly antagonistic in letting legislation through.
Tim Costello was the other resposne which I thought was really generous.
Unlike others who mocked him as out of touch, I liked having a prime minister who read theology and had a hero called Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I detected echoes of Bonhoeffer in his penultimate speech last Wednesday night in calling the ballot on. He spoke of not letting the party lurch to the Right in harshness to refugees and asylum-seekers.
Also this which I didn't know from Costello,
Unmentioned in his list of achievements at his final press conference was one that I think is his finest legacy. He lifted our overseas aid program by more than $1 billion to date because he saw development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty as something that was right. Against the Howard government's refusal to budge, he took an electoral risk. He promised to lift our aid to 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2015 or 50c in every $100 because this would help cut the number of hungry and absolutely poor.