I'm wondering if this is what has come up in my hedge recently. It looks very similar to the photos. The leaves are tiny and spiky, I would say they're like manuka or totara. The buds are purplish but open into a white flower with long yellow stamens and six turned back petals. I found the flowers very pleasantly fragrant, smelling of coconut to me, and strongly scenting my house from one small sprig. Another person could smell it only faintly, others described it as an unpleasant soapy smell.
I understand it's a noxious weed in NZ, but then my hedge is privet and also has honeysuckle and jasmine growing in it so I'm not too worried about any natives getting strangled by it. They're all at the back of my place and I'm miles from native bush.