Members of parliament were welcomed onto Waitangi treaty grounds with a powhiri.

Tensions between Winston Peters and Simon Bridges have boiled over at Waitangi, with Peters making an unscheduled speech, accusing Bridges of "politicising" the event.

Party leaders gathered at Waitangi's upper marae on Tuesday morning for a powhiri ahead of Waitangi day on Thursday.

Bridges had used his speech at Waitangi to attack Labour's "year of delivery".

He said it compared unfavourably with National's delivery for Māori on things like treaty settlements, charter schools, and the highway the previous National Government wanted to build between Auckland and the North.

Shane Jones was scheduled to speak on behalf of NZ First, but yielded to Peters, who lashed-out.

"You looking for trouble, you've come to the right place," Peters said, quoting Elvis Presley.

"It was not my intention to speak here but what after what I've heard and the politicisation of this event I'm seriously concerned about the next 8 months," he said.

RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF A Dame Whina Cooper statue has been unveiled just a few days before Waitangi Day.

He launched into an attack on National's roading policy, parts of which had recently been adopted by the Government.

"The plan you were talking about - it was going to take 68 years to reach Whangarei - do you fancy your chances of being able to live to see it?" Peters said, before claiming he'd deliver the road faster.

"The group that I'm a member of at this point in time is slow on the lip and fast on the hip," he said.

Tensions were high from the start of the day. As politicians were being welcomed onto the marae, Peters nudged Green party co-leader James Shaw so that he did not have to stand next to Bridges. Peters also chose not to stand during a waiata that followed Bridges' speech.

Titewhai Harawira joined in the pile-on, chuckling with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during Bridges' speech.

RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF Winston Peters and Simon Bridges reluctantly stand side by side at a powhiri ahead of Waitangi day.

Bridges on Sunday ruled NZ First out of any post-election coalition negotiations. The move put pressure on Peters election strategy, which has historically been based on working with either National or Labour after the election.

Bridges later rejected the claim that he had brought politics to Waitangi.

"Labour, the Greens, and NZ First are keen to shut that down because they don't want to answer hard questions," he said.

Speeches from the Government were not entirely devoid of politics either. Ardern touted the Government's record on lowering Māori unemployment.

She returned to the call she made at her first Waitangi day commemoration for Māori to hold her and her Government to account.

"When I said hold us to account I didn't just mean what we do, I also meant how we do it," she said.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little delivered his entire speech in te reo Māori, which impressed the marae.

RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF Members of parliament were welcomed onto the Waitangi treaty grounds with a powhiri.

One speaker, responding to Little, said he was "a different person," to the man he was was when he first came to Waitangi.

"You are an entirely different person. We are delighted, the people of the North, that we taught you to be like that," he said.

Ardern said that Little's speech was an example of the direction of Māori and Pakeha relations, which would mean Pakeha increasingly working in the Māori world, in the way Māori had been asked to work in the Pakeha world.

She said the nation had to cross "the bridge" or "te arawhiti".

"It is an obligation responsibility for every generation in a position of power to bring our houses together, not just in programmes and policy but in relationships," she said.

She called on those generations "to cross te arawhiti no matter how hard we stumble".