To be fair - we don't know yet, how this second out brake came into the country (or whether it was always here), maybe we still might all learn something new about the virus?
Having said that, I agree - not regularly testing border staff (despite claiming that they do) is a spectacular failure. Management 101 is checking instead of trusting that something might happen ... and they haven't been very good doing that. They failed in this category not once, not twice, but many times. They didn't even learn that they can't trust our officials. Point taken.
Not sure though why you don't want a comparison with what National would have done. Unfortunately the election (whenever it might happen) is not an academic rating exercise - it is the attempt to pick the better candidate out of a quite limited candidate pool (i.e. Labor led government or National led government - that's it).
You are correct in pointing out that the current government made a number of mistakes ... however - lets not forget that the previous National government made as well a number of capital mistakes in the execution of their crisis management (like GFC, ChCh earth quakes) at the time. It is like checking and comparing the eye sight of people with severe eye sight impairments.
Looking forward the only relevant question would be whether for the next three years a Labor government (standalone or supplemented by Green) be a better choice for New Zealand than a National government supplemented by ACT, Maori and NZ First)?
Looking at the values / policies and the leadership qualities of their respective leaders I think for most Labor / Green will stand out (unless you like a bully in the top job and are a fan of Trumpesk justice and gun policies).
Looking at the respective management outcomes I agree both "candidates" demonstrated at different points in times that there is huge improvement potential.
Lets not forget - successive National as well as Labor governments
- have been responsible for running down our health system.
- have been responsible for running down our environment, allowing that our once clear lakes and rivers are now sewage and that our drinking water in most parts of New Zealand is polluted.
- screwed up our justice system (lock them up and throw the key away) and created that way a society with the highest number of incarcerated people outside the Trumpesk States of America.
- moved our education system for what used to be in the 1950 ..ies the envy of the developed world to something quite mediocre. Interesting that many of our prisoners are not even able to read and write ... maybe there is a link between poor education and high incarceration?
So - yes, they both have a terrible track record, but at least with Labor / Green it appears they want to move into the right direction.