Maori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand, experience a range of negative outcomes. Psychological models and interventions aiming to improve outcomes for Maori tend to be founded on a "culture-as-cure" model. This view promotes cultural efficacy as a critical resilience factor that should improve outcomes for Maori. This is a founding premise of initiatives for Indigenous peoples in many nations. However, research modeling the outcomes of increased cultural efficacy for Indigenous peoples, such as Maori, remains limited. We present cross-sectional data modeling the links, and possible causal direction, between Maori cultural efficacy and active identity engagement and levels of (1) satisfaction with personal circumstances and life versus (2) satisfaction with government and the state of the nation more generally (N = 93 Maori). Our data support an opposing outcomes model in which Maori cultural efficacy predicts satisfaction with personal aspects of life, but may simultaneously decrease satisfaction with the nation and methods of governance for Maori peoples. Possible mechanisms governing these opposing effects are discussed.