After hiding in the Shush House in the initial hours and days following his epic job loss, it is now impossible to shut the guy up.

He may have pledged there would be "no sniping" in his final prime ministerial conference. But he didn't say anything about self-serving interviews, did he?

So, on top of discussions with News Corp publications last weekend, Abbott presented for lengthy chats with broadcasters Ray Hadley and Neil Mitchell this week.

The former prime minister said far too many quotable things to note them all here. But a special shout out must go to his comment that usurper colleagues will have to answer to "God" and their "consciences" (i.e. Scott and Julie, you might be going to hell). And his analysis that the Coalition would definitely have won next year with him, but will only be "very competitive" under Malcolm Turnbull.

In all of this, Abbott's overarching argument is that swapping to Turnbull was purely cosmetic – something the party did because it didn't like the Tony T-shirt it had on. As he firmly declared on Thursday, "the government hasn't changed".

Time of course will tell if Abbott is correct.

One might argue that Turnbull's radical redo of the ministry, together with his new noises on tax reform and university fee deregulation indicate there is movement at the station. Although, yes, the chestnuts of climate policy and same-sex marriage seem to be firmly wedged in Abbott land.

But the change of prime minister involves more than just potential policy alterations.

Turnbull now has a chance to end a conflict that has been raging the past two years. With a new prime minister, could we have peace for our time?

The culture wars – which dominated so much of the Howard years – restarted under Abbott with vim and vinegar.

We are not talking here about people hurling copies of Ulysses and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at each other. "Culture wars" (a term we have borrowed from the United States) go beyond the usual political contests where there are different opinions and opposing sides. In a culture war, lefties and rightos barricade themselves in for a world-views showdown. Things get entrenched, bitter and intensely tedious.

In John Howard's day, the culture warring was mostly taken up with issues of identity (should Australia be ashamed of its history? How should it see itself going forward?). And so the battlelines were drawn over Australian history and black arm-bands, the republic, university fee deregulation, political correctness, public versus private schools and the ABC.

Howard claimed victory in January 2006, when he declared the "phony debate about national identity" was over. Kevin Rudd followed up in an essay in The Monthly later that year, arguing Howard's "culture war" against the left was an election tactic and a "fraud".

In other words, there was no progress. In all the furious national chat, there was more wheel spinning than enlightenment.

Under Abbott, the culture war has been more of a thematic mixed bag, complete with retro 1990s stylings. It has included the left-wing "bias" in the school curriculum, same-sex marriage, the Human Rights Commission, the Racial Discrimination Act, energy sources and knights and dames. Plus, of course, the ABC.

(It's not officially a culture war unless the ABC is involved.)

Like its predecessor, this current war has seen a lot of huffy opinionating as we have considered whether people have the right to be bigots and the aesthetic merits of wind farming.

There has also been panic over the fate of Peppa Pig, spewing over an Australia Day prize for the Queen's husband and ongoing angst about whether the appointment of "Freedom Commissioner" was a necessary or scary thing.

It's very hard to conclude that this has taken Australia to anything approaching an edifying place. Although it has seen a marked increase in national levels of self-righteousness.

Could Turnbull's prime ministership be the circuit breaker we've been looking for, then? As someone who has danced between camps, he has a unique opportunity to ditch the culture war. Sure, these conflicts are kept alive by non-politicians in radio studios, column inches and 140 character pot shots, but they get their munitions from the top.

Turnbull is a same-sex marriage supporting, climate-change believing, republican-advocating Liberal leader. He even spoke at the launch of the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC last year (although his office stressed at the time that he is is not an official friend of group). All the while, he's still a paid up member of the right side of politics.

A look at his new cabinet - where the hard right mingles with bleeding heart moderates - is surely a sign that detente is possible.

One outstanding question, however, is what does Abbott do next? If he stays in Parliament, he becomes a rallying point, a place where the culture war flame can continue to burn.

His recent media appearances suggest that he is not going to be shy about telling Australia what he really thinks. While Eric Abetz's angry email to Liberal Party members this week shows that Abbott is not alone.

The Prime Minister could make a decision (post-Christmas) to retreat into a less political part of public life. Or ... he could continue to do interviews that give him every opportunity to try and out-Kevin Kevin Rudd.

Urgh. Are we we really ready for Culture War III?