Tony Abbott has vowed to accept the decision of his Liberal colleagues who dumped him as prime minister.
"There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping," the outgoing prime minister told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
"This is a tough day, but when you join the game, you accept the rules."
But Mr Abbott did have a shot at the febrile media culture that rewarded treachery.
And he had some advice for the media as well.
"Refuse to print self-serving claims that the person making them won't put his or her name to," he said.
"Refuse to connive at dishonour by acting as the assassin's knife."
Mr Abbott outlined the good record of his government, citing the creation of 300,000 jobs, abolition of Labor's carbon and mining taxes, the signing of free-trade agreements with Japan, South Korea and China and the biggest infrastructure program in Australia's history.
"We've responded to the threats of terror and we've deployed to the other side of the world to bring our loved ones home.
"The boats have stopped and with the boats stopped, we've been better able to display our compassion to refugees."
Despite "hysterical and unprincipled" opposition, $50 billion of repairs were made to the budget, he said.
Mr Abbott regretted there was much still to be done including the constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians and the challenge of ice and domestic violence.
Australia also had a role to play in the struggles of the wider world including the Middle East cauldron and in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
"I fear that none of this will be helped if the leadership instability that's plagued other countries continues to taint us."
Mr Abbott admitted few people entirely measure up to expectations.
"Of course, the government wasn't perfect," he said.
"We have been a government of men and women, not a government of gods walking upon the earth."
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