176 years of the Treaty of Waitangi will be commemorated as the sun rises this morning, and opposition politicians are choosing to use this year's Waitangi Day to push the campaign against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Continuous downpours didn’t deter representatives from New Zealand First, Labour and the Greens from speaking at a public rally in Paihia yesterday afternoon.

Labour’s new trade spokesperson David Clark told those gathered everyone knows trade brings benefit.

"Nobody here today thinks trade should be at any price, and we are saying that this deal has gone too far, it is not in the interests of New Zealanders as it stands and we cannot support it in the Labour party."

Clark said a lot of ‘middle New Zealanders’ wanted to see what the TPP actually contained before they made up their minds and pinned their colours to the mast.

"We laid out our bottom lines, we laid out our principles in advance, we have now measured the deal against them, and we have seen that the deal comes up short."

Meanwhile, Winston Peters has warned those protesting against the Trans Pacific Partnership not to muddy their message.

The New Zealand First leader said he saw flags during Auckland’s TPPA protests bearing messages about ‘every old thing'.

"If you are concerned to ensure the sovereignty of your parliament, stick with the issue and ensure that we have trade agreements which are fair, which are equal, which are honest, and above all are in whose interests? Ours. The New Zealand people."

A crowd is expected to gather at the upper marae of the Treaty grounds this morning, but the Prime Minister will not be among them.

John Key's chosen to skip Waitangi ceremonies at Te Tii Marae after being told he could speak, but not about politics.

Labour leader Andrew Little said he should have ignored the gag order, rather than skipping the ceremonies.

"He wanted to be remembered for his courageousness about being at Waitangi regardless, but actually an act of courageousness might have been that he turned up, spoke, spoke politically."

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said even though the trustees restricted what Mr Key could talk about at Waitangi, he should have come and listened.

She said in Parliament there are rules around who can speak, and on what topics.

"As Prime Minister, he should be prepared to come and listen to people, not just put his own opinion forward."

Turei said locals are talking about John Key’s no-show.

"People are saying it shows weakness, an inability of him to front up. But nobody's particularly worried he's not coming."