Turnbulls legacy may not be one he will boast about, but it will certainly be remembered.

Malcolm Turnbulls overweening ego will never admit it, but his legacy as Prime Minister was less than earth-shattering.

Arguably his greatest achievement was to knock off Tony Abbott, a feat for which a majority of the electorate was relieved and grateful.

But after that there was not much to trouble the scorer. His supporters will say he was hamstrung by the delusional conservatives in his party room; his detractors will contend they had to resist his efforts to push their base to a Labor-lite left, and there is truth in both contentions. But the hard fact is that he was unwilling to risk confrontation, and as a result dwindled into impotence and a form of irrelevance and what he did manage to change, his successors have largely undone.

But he has left one memorial, and, ironically, it is one that both sides of the culture wars would now rather he hadnt: the promise to legislate a religious freedom bill.

At the time it was thought to be a doddle, a sop to the losers on the same sex marriage plebiscite that could be comfortably massaged through in a few week. It would not really break any new ground, just confirm the already extensive privileges the faithful (by which almost everyone assumed meant Christians, and particularly Catholics) already enjoy at the expense of the wider population.

A tweak or two about existing anti-discrimination law would surely be sufficient. But of course it wasnt. First the Christian lobby grabbed the opportunity to expand its influence, and then it dawned on those of other creeds and none that they too had a stake in the game. Why should the Christians have all the fun?

One in, all in. and within a few months we were embroiled in a new campaign in the ongoing culture wars, one in which just about everyone felt they were missing out on their fair share. The faithful wanted more than a guaranteed against non-discrimination they wanted a positive bill, affirming what they saw as their unalienable rights and many others saw as unconscionable advantage, an affront to our secular constitution.

The perhaps unfortunately named Christian Porter, as the new Attorney-General, was sent to sort out the mess, and to date, after nearly two long years of bickering and resentment, has signally failed to do so: if anything. the various factions are even further estranged and more adamant over their various positions.

The interventions of high profile evangelists Israel Folau and Margaret Court have not helped, but the divisions are far more deep-seated than can be resolved through quick fixes over disputes around individuals. It seems that Porter has yet again gone back to the drawing board in an effort to produce an acceptable bill, but it is now clear that there quite simply isnt one; that whatever finally emerges in parliament will merely exacerbate the divisions entrenched not only across the community, but crucially within the joint parties room.

And that means that they will fester on until and beyond the next election. Turnbulls legacy may not be one he will boast about, but it will certainly be remembered.