Legislative changes are afoot in New Zealand that are formalising an ideological shift in policy that decreasingly positions the Maori language a matter of interethnic national identity but increasingly as one for Maori self-determination. The Waitangi Tribunal (WAI262, Waitangi Tribunal, 2011) established that, from here on, Maori language policy should be determined in large measure by Maori ideas. This paper advances the question of what these Maori ideas are, and indeed whether these align with those of non-Maori. In particular, the paper reports findings from a large scale qualitative survey that used a folk linguistic approach to solicit what sociolinguistic situation Maori and non-Maori youth envisage language revitalisation policy should produce, and what policy priorities they propose to achieve that. It then critically assesses whether the ideas of these youth align with the Maori language policy objectives of the New Zealand state.