The government is developing a new, community-oriented suicide prevention plan.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne says current strategy has too much focus on what governments can do.

"We can't operate in a Wellington vacuum in which policy is written by faceless individuals following a template," he said on Tuesday.

"Addressing suicide is everyone's responsibility."

He told a Maori suicide prevention conference in Auckland it was vital for officials in central agencies and policy advisers to learn from community experience.

Maori suicide rates are significantly higher than other groups and Maori youth suicide rates are the highest of all at 28 per 100,000.