The South West Youth Executive Team is made up of youth council representatives from the municipalities of Corangamite, Moyne, Warrnambool, Glenelg and Southern Grampians and members of the team had Mr Tehan’s ear this week.

Mr Tehan said Monday’s annual gathering was a way for him to engage with young people about the issues relevant to them.

Topics of discussion at this week’s forum included year 12 attainment rates, youth unemployment, domestic violence, illicit drugs and cyber-bullying.

“It helps me stay informed with what are the issues that are of importance to young people,” he said.

“We had a long discussion about (year 12) attainment rates ... to see what types of things we can do together to try to change this.”

Mr Tehan said he took on board the group’s suggestions, as well as promising to seek out information for the members on what they can do at a local level about the issues discussed.

“I want to encourage and empower them to something as well,” he said.

“The government can do its bit ... and the community can do its bit as well.”

Corangamite Shire youth mayor Chloe Healey said the forums were an important way for youth representatives to be heard.

“Without these forums, Dan Tehan wouldn’t know what’s affected us the most,” Ms Healey said.

“It’s OK for adults to guess, but if it comes out of the mouths of youth it’s obviously important to us.”

Ms Healey said the forum was also good for raising the profile of youth councils and reminding young people that they had a voice in their communities.

“Unless people tell us what they want, we can’t do anything about it.”