UPDATED 5.22pm Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has confirmed that after discussion with the Maori Party, a commemoration day for the New Zealand land wars will be established.

But Prime Minister John Key has suggested a final decision may be some time off.

English said the date had yet to be agreed with iwi and that there would be no public holiday. He said it would be a locally driven event, not imposed by the Government.

"We've taken the view that there's no need for a new public holiday and in any case there isn't yet agreement about a date even just for a commemoration.

"I think it will almost certainly be locally led rather than Government led," he told reporters today at Parliament.

"Government provides some resource but this has to be something that people want to own, not something that is pushed on them."

Key also stressed there would be no day off.

"We are not proposing that would be a separate public holiday but we are saying it is likely there might be agreement at some point that that commemoration date can be set."

Asked how it would be marked, Key said there had not been enough thinking about it. "But ultimately if a decision was made, then they would find a way of doing it."

English mentioned commemoration day during a speech on Friday at the 10th anniversary of the coronation of King Tuheitia.

It is an issue that has been pushed by the Maori Party, a support partner of National's since 2008.

Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox believes it is an event worthy of public holiday status.

"It is criminal that the children in this country know more about Gallipoli and Anzac Cove than they do about Rangiriri, Orakau and also all of the other battles in this country to settle this land."

Labour leader Andrew Little supports the move for a commemoration day and suggested that regions could switch their provincial holiday for a day off to commemorate the wars.

"I think... as we fully come to terms with our history and the reality of it, we ought to be observing our own internal land wars in the way that we observe conflicts and casualties in other wars we have participated in.

"We observe other conflicts where there's been significant casualties. The most significant being Anzac Day. There were significant casualties in the land wars. They happened in our own country. They are a part of our history that people very often don't like to face up to."

He also believed there should be better education about New Zealand's land war history in schools.

"I know when I was at school, I didn't learn a great deal about it. I learnt more about those issues and certainly about Parihaka in Taranaki after I left school and in fact after I left Taranaki.

"I just think we can do better at coming to terms with our history, including parts of our history that perhaps many of us are a little embarrassed by," Little told reporters.

"We shouldn't embarrassed by it. We should accept that it has happened in the past and we should learn from it and embrace what we have now, which is a set of legal arrangements that ensure that a Treaty of Waitangi is starting now to be observed now not only in the law but in the spirit."

The Employers and Manufacturers Association's Kim Campbell said creating yet another public holiday is the last thing we need.

"Frankly, the country can't afford it. The fact is, when the whole place closes down for a holiday there is an enormous cost to the economy. It doesn't seem appropriate."

Mr Campbell said such history can still be commemorated without the drain on our economy that comes from the country closing down for the day.

"The land wars that were something that were an important part of our history. But I'm sure if people sat down and thought about it, there are many other things which are also important for which some groups may wish to have a public holiday."