Mr Barr has always said his first priority is to provide a solid fiscal basis from which the government can spend to improve the city's services and to help those in need. The ACT budget is now in its strongest position in years. It is expected to be in surplus this financial year after copping the double blow of federal spending cuts under Tony Abbott and the massive costs of buying back asbestos-contaminated housing.

Importantly, this is likely to be a structural surplus, not an ephemeral gain. It is built on the politically difficult but commonsensical tax reforms that Mr Barr began when he was treasurer in the Gallagher government: replacing inefficient, inequitable charges with land-value tax. No other jurisdiction has had the courage to tread this path. Mr Barr's leadership on this issue is important not only for the stability of ACT government revenue but also as a positive example for Australian policymakers.

ACT Labor is also slowly ticking off its checklist of election pledges. The light rail is late but Canberrans will be well used to it by the next election. Though the decision to build it remains somewhat contentious, it will change the city. The new rehabilitation hospital is Canberra's north is up and running; more walk-in clinics will open soon; and, pending delays in the Assembly, the ACT will have its own an anti-corruption agency before the 2020 poll.

There are, of course, un-met challenges. Perhaps surprisingly, they are in policy areas that Labor considers its own.

There is a growing perception of complacency in the government's management of public schools and acute healthcare. This issue is not new: comparative data shows ACT hospitals and schools have underperformed, at least in relative terms, for many years. It doesn't help the government's reputation when the ministers involved seem to divert blame or delay action. Education Minister Yvette Berry attacks regularly the literacy and numeracy tests that measure ACT schools, rather than address critical analyses of the findings. Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris appeared to respond slowly to repeated indications of Canberra Hospital's toxic workplace culture. Her eventual action this year, setting up an independent inquiry, is far from what affected staff want.

Mr Barr must also combat more nebulous criticisms. For example, he is seen by some to focus on the growing, younger, northern half of the city (which happened to swing strongly to Labor in 2016) at the expense of the south. And while a lack of affordable housing is a problem in most Australian cities, in Canberra it is coupled with a lack of quality housing, and an apparent lack of legal or political will to demand better from shoddy developers.

When Canberrans vote in two years' time, will they judge Mr Barr and Labor to be governing well, or too long in power? Much depends on the Liberal opposition, and whether it can articulate what it stands for. At present, it remains a long way from being an alternative government.