Rāhina, 29 Whiringa-ā-nuku, 2007

The latest edition of Te Puni Kōkiri’s stakeholder magazine Kōkiri takes a peek into the future by looking at what the year 2030 might hold for Māori.

Kōkiri magazine is the bi-monthly stakeholder magazine of Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development) and is distributed to around 35,000 individuals and organisations interested in Māori development.

Communications Manager Jaewynn McKay says the cover story of the latest edition is about Māori future makers, which captures the results of Te Puni Kōkiri’s recent Māori potential forecast report titled Ngā Kaihanga Hou – For Māori Future Makers.

"A Te Puni Kōkiri team was established in June 2006 focused on positioning Maori in the future economic system looking out to the year 2030," says Ms McKay. "Ngā Kaihanga Hou is an outcome of Te Puni Kōkiri's work in this area over the last twelve months."

“Three key future drivers have been identified that will influence the way that Maori participate in the economy leading to the year 2030. They are: Moving to the innovation economy; the redistribution of world economic power; and climate change and resource pressures.

"The report makes it clear that challenge for New Zealand is to continue unlocking opportunities for the increased participation of Maori in the future economy.”

The cover image was specially created by computer game developer Maru Nihoniho, part of an emerging Māori talent base in creative industries. Her story is also featured in Kōkiri magazine: “Maru established Metia Interactive in 2003, a computer game and intellectual property development company. Earlier this year they launched their first game, Cube, for the Sony PlayStation Portable market in America, and it is now worldwide,” says Ms McKay.

The magazine also features a story on Māori living in Australia – how many Māori there are in Australia, why they went there, and how they’re faring – based on the research of Te Puni Kōkiri Policy Manager Paul Hamer.

“It highlights that while a significant number of Māori are living and working in another country, they still consider themselves to be Māori and most are still calling New Zealand ‘home’,” she says.