THE HIGHS:
* Secured Labor a historic fourth term in 2014 with an unlikely election victory, justifying his decision to roll former premier Mike Rann in 2011.
* Lured tech billionaire Elon Musk to Adelaide to build the world's biggest battery, bringing international attention to South Australia's push towards renewable energy.
* Helped secure defence programs to build the navy's next fleet of frigates and submarines in Adelaide, successfully lobbying against alternative proposals, especially the purchase of off-the-shelf subs.
* Unleashed a tirade on then Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg at a press conference in 2017, after relentless federal attacks on the state's reliance on renewables, reaffirming his credentials as a shrewd political player.
THE LOWS:
* Lost the 2018 election to the Liberals after a redistribution of electoral boundaries made a Labor win almost impossible.
* Suffered through national ridicule in 2017 when a freak storm brought down transmission lines and blacked out almost the entire state, the incident fuelling criticism of the government's renewable energy policies.
* Was forced to apologise for the scandalous abuse of elderly dementia patients at the Oakden nursing home in Adelaide which subsequently sparked a national royal commission into aged care.
* Was hit by the triple economic whammy of the aftermath of the global economic crisis, the decision by BHP to mothball the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine and the closure of Holden's Adelaide car assembly plant which raised the prospect of unemployment soaring to double digits.
