Attracted to porch light. Despite appearances, alive - and returned to the wild (= garden) :-)
ooooo, a small green noctuid with a white stripe on Olearia virgata.
Could this be a very early instar Meterana exquisita? Not enough photos of caterpillars anywhere! Doesn't look much like the chonky caterpillar in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287164039_Lepidoptera_of_small-leaved_divaricating_Olearia_in_New_Zealand_and_their_conservation_priority
huge pinkish noctuid caterpillar eating Olearia virgata leaves.
Doesn't look like anything pictured in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287164039_Lepidoptera_of_small-leaved_divaricating_Olearia_in_New_Zealand_and_their_conservation_priority