Watch: Winston Peters arrives at parliament and reveals why he's waiting and what he thinks of the term 'kingmaker'

Winston Peters is set to begin preliminary coalition negotiation talks with National and Labour today, saying personalities would be an important feature of the talks, and gave reporters his two cents on what he thinks of the term, 'kingmaker'. 

The NZ First leader had "no idea" what attitudes Labour and National would bring to the negotiation table today, when asked by 1 NEWS' political editor Corin Dann. 

"A positive one I hope," Mr Peters said. 

He ripped into the given name of 'Kingmaker', saying it was a "foolish description".

"I wish people would just be a bit more patient."

He said the preliminary talks today would be about setting the ground rules, agenda and protocols.

Mr Peters revealed personalities were important to him when it came to deal-making.

"You wouldn't want someone's past behaviours, or obnoxiousness to be part of the problem, would you?"

Mr Dann asked if a coalition deal would be difficult if Labour and the Greens did not pick up extra seats from the special votes, meaning if NZ First decided on a Labour-Greens coalition, the majority would be just 61. 

"These special votes were critically important," Mr Peters said. "To have it ignored like they're no matter, is actually really quite regrettable."

"No-one would be making a smart decision before they saw those votes."

After the results of the special votes come through on Saturday, NZ First would "work out what it means, and then the issue becomes relevant, or not relevant". 

Mr Peters said he was confident he would get the coalition deal done with just five days between the release of the special votes on October 7 and October 12, when he said a decision would be made.

Mr Dann asked if a full coalition was possible in just five days.

"I said there were nine permutations, and we'll be able to deal with the whole lot," Mr Peters said.  

Mr Peters would not say (aside from MPs, staffers and others) who would be in his negotiating team this morning, and that the venue would be in a neutral place. 

The NZ First leader is meeting with the families of the Pike River mine victims this morning, and when asked what discussions would be about, he said it was "confidential". 

He was asked if reentering the mine was still a top priority of NZ First, Mr Peters said, "What do you think?"

"I meant to do what's right by those people."