United Future leader Peter Dunne yesterday called for Waitangi Day to be renamed New Zealand Day, or for another day to be selected as a national day.
"We have so many wonderful things about this country that we should be celebrating; we have achieved great things as a nation and continue to do so.
"We need to be proud of all of that and celebrate what it is to be a Kiwi," Mr Dunne said.
Waitangi Day had not been about national pride for a long time, and there had to be more to the national day than protests, he said.
"And it has got to the point where one ill-informed individual with a loud-hailer and intimidating thugs demanding `koha' in a manner that actually breaches their own tikanga, are turning Waitangi Day into a farce," he said.
"Waitangi Day is important, but it could be so much more. It has been hijacked by the angry few."
However, Mr Key said he did not support introducing a new day.
"We shouldn't overstate the impact that that isolated group of protesters have on Waitangi," he said.
"For the most part, it's actually a very positive, festival-type atmosphere.
"It's one of the key messages that I was trying to get out, that I want New Zealanders to feel that they can go to Waitangi and enjoy the significance of that time."
Mr Key said the protests shown in the media were a very small part of the event.
Protesters led by Maori Party MP Hone Harawira's nephew, Wikatana Popata, marched on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in a peaceful protest on Sunday.
The 200-strong group protested asset sales, desecration of resources and called for a Maori revolution.
Mr Popata, who was convicted of assaulting Mr Key as he entered Te Tii marae two years ago, used the protest to call Mr Key "the enemy".
