Police in Auckland have been caught posing as window washers in order to snap drivers using their cell phones at traffic lights.

Footage of the incident was sent to Today FM’s Duncan Garner, who discussed it on his morning radio show today. Garner labelled the behaviour of the officers as intimidating, though some callers into his programme disagreed.

You can listen to the full discussion here and watch the footage below.

In a statement, police defended the use of plain clothes operations. However, they said that dressing officers as window washers was out of line. “We will be communicating with our staff this should not be happening in future,” a spokesperson told Today FM.

With not quite three days to go until ballot boxes are sealed closed, the prospects of an increase in voter turnout are looking slim. The latest tally provided by Auckland Council has 23% of eligible votes received as of today’s mailbag. That compares with 26.8% in the last local elections. Then, the final turnout finished up at 35.3%

It's not a good idea now to return your ballot via post, but you can go to one of the ballot boxes across the super city region. If you don't have voting papers, you can cast a special vote. Find more information here.

The official cash rate has risen by 50 basis points to 3.5% – the fifth consecutive 0.5% increase.

It’s been rising steadily as part of the central bank’s plans to tackle rising inflation and the cost of living.

The last time it was this high was in April 2015.

In a statement, the Reserve Bank said it remained appropriate to continue to tighten monetary conditions at pace. “Core consumer price inflation is too high and labour resources are scarce,” the bank said.

“Global consumer price pressures remain heightened. The global demand for goods and services is exceeding supply capacity, putting upward pressure on prices. Food and energy prices are being particularly exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.”

Committee members agreed that monetary conditions needed to continue to tighten, the bank said, until they are confident there is sufficient restraint on spending to bring inflation back within its 1-3% per annum target range.

The image of the day comes from Mother Nature.

This morning large parts of the South Island have been hit by extreme weather, with heavy snow warnings in place for Otago, Southland, large parts of Canterbury and even parts of Marlborough. Perhaps coincidentally, we’ve just published a beautiful personal piece by John Summers, who uses a childhood memory of snow falling on Christchurch in 1992 as a starting point for thinking about taking up space and being a good boy. Highly recommended.

The government’s books are in a much stronger position than initially forecast.

The operating balance before gains and losses – or OBEGAL – was at a deficit of $9.7 billion, about half of what was predicted in the May budget.

Grant Robertson, the finance minister, said it showed the economy was in a better state than at a comparable time during the global financial crisis.

“On the measures that matter the government has steered the New Zealand economy and government books through the one-in-100 year economic shock of the pandemic favourably compared to the GFC – our economy has bounced back quicker, unemployment is lower, and the increase in debt compared to the size of the economy is comparable,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to the Herald, Robertson said he would be taking a “balanced and cautious” approach to the better than expected state of the economy.

“Whether it is on tax cuts or anything else, it has already been banked, accounted for, and we have moved on from it,” Robertson said when asked what he might spend the money on.

A higher than usual tax take was responsible for the healthy finances, with National’s Nicola Willis saying it reiterated that the government was addicted to spending.

“Booming revenue growth shows the government doesn’t have an income problem, it has a spending problem. A careful finance minister would find room for prudent tax relief while investing in public services – just as Steven Joyce, Bill English, and Michael Cullen did when they were in the role,” she said.

But the Council of Trade Unions said the strong economy should mean an investment in New Zealand’s future – like tackling housing, poverty, and the “$104 billion infrastructure gap”.

The latest OCR update is due at 2pm.

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Former National Party MP Jami-Lee Ross has been found not guilty in a lengthy trial related to political donations.

Ross was charged alongside three businessmen in relation to donations to the National Party. The three businessmen were then further charged for donations made to the Labour Party, alongside two men and a woman with name suppression.

After a seven-week trial, Justice Gault laid down three guilty verdicts in relation to the National Party donations, while all were acquitted in relation to Labour Party donations. Ross, and four others, were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire has been in court – you can read his full report here.

The transport minister needs to “urgently talk” to the immigration minister to sort out Auckland’s transport woes, according to the National Party.

That shouldn’t be too difficult considering Michael Wood is responsible for both the transport and immigration portfolios.

It comes after Aucklanders were this week warned of disruption on the train lines over the next two years ahead of the opening of the city rail link. But while the maintenance work is required, there’s concern about a lack of bus drivers to fill the void from train cancellations.

It was revealed today that Auckland Transport, Environment Canterbury and Greater Wellington Regional Council have asked for immigration settings to be urgently reviewed to address the country’s bus driver shortage in time for the rail disruption.

National’s Simon Brown said a solution to the “chaos” was needed. “If the government is serious about getting people into public transport, they need to ensure people have reliable options available to them,” he said. “While Labour likes to talk a big game on public transport and light rail, the reality is very different.”

People won’t use public transport unless it’s reliable, said Brown – “and right now it is anything but reliable in Auckland”.

National’s leader has defended his party’s plans to unravel the highest tax threshold should he become prime minister next year, despite financial chaos linked to a similar move in the UK.

British prime minister Liz Truss this week u-turned on a proposal to cut the top tax rate after it triggered a market fall.

But Christopher Luxon told RNZ he wasn’t concerned about a similar impact here. “The situation in the UK and the situation in New Zealand is very different,” he said. “You’ve got a UK government that’s talking about wholesale changes to a tax system and at the same time massive amounts of stimulus going in around energy payments in particular.”

Pressed specifically on National’s plan to cut the tax rate for the highest earners, Luxon said we lived in a very competitive world. “If we want the best talent to come here, we have to be the best,” he said. “New Zealand has a higher cost of living, we have lower wages.”

Luxon said there were more people leaving New Zealand than coming here and suggested our tax rates were one of the reasons for this. A major part of National’s tax plan remained indexing tax rates to inflation, he added.

This morning the Herald’s Georgina Campbell has a report (paywalled) on three regional transport agencies writing to immigration minister Michael Wood. Auckland Transport, Environment Canterbury and Greater Wellington Regional Council are asking for immigration settings to be urgently reviewed to address the country’s bus driver shortage. It follows the news on Tuesday about the closure of Auckland train lines next year for a major rebuild project.

Services will be replaced by buses but as the agencies writing to the minister and Auckland Councillor Richard Hills note, we have a shortage of bus drivers. There is also concern that the likelihood of buses getting stuck in traffic will put people off public transport and 50,000 cars may be back on Auckland’s already congested roads.

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A new poll has Labour on its lowest result since October 2017, when Jacinda Ardern became prime minister.

The Roy Morgan survey has Labour on 29.5%, a 5.5 point drop from the previous poll. Support for National is up half a percent to 36%.

While neither party has enough support on their own, National would be in a position to govern with help from Act, up 2% to 12.5%. The Greens are also polling at 12.5%.

That means a potential National/Act coalition sits on 48.5% – 6.5% points ahead of a Labour/Greens coalition on 42%.

On this poll, Te Pāti Māori would not be the kingmaker as it has been in a number of recent surveys. However, the party is polling at 3.5% (not enough to return to parliament without winning an electorate seat as it did in 2020).

Looking at the parties outside parliament: support for New Zealand First is down 0.5% points to 1%, The Opportunities Party was up 1.5% points to 2.5% and support for the New Conservative Party was unchanged at 0.5% in September.

The latest poll result comes after public bullying claims within both Labour and National, and also follows the prime minister’s trip overseas following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The recent TVNZ Kantar Public poll also had National in a position to govern with Act, though Labour was sitting at 34%.