Mental health issues, a lack of decent jobs and recreational opportunities, and housing shortages are just some of the challenges made even more dire by isolation and inadequate services.

On my recent visits to Camperdown, Heywood, Portland, Warrnambool, Mildura Robinvale and Swan Hill, the welcome I received was heartwarming, but also showed how seldom officials travel to regional areas to hear directly about local experiences and needs.

Youth Affairs Council Victoria, the peak body for young people and the youth sector, has been working hard to ensure the local knowledge, voices, and experiences of rural and regional young people are represented and heard in, and beyond, their communities. We have staff based full-time in the Southern Mallee and Great South Coast, and our Melbourne-based staff regularly travel to the other corners of the state.

Young people from rural and regional Victoria often co-design, co-facilitate and guide our work, ensuring their lived experience is at the heart of what we do, including our recent submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System. Often the services taken for granted in the city, such as a school or a community centre, or a psychologist or a sports club, either don't exist, or are difficult to access. So rural and regional people compensate through supporting each other to create resilient and dedicated communities.

There are also many young people driving change, who should be recognised for the significant role they can and do play in shaping their communities. But I don't see their stories being shared nearly enough.

In Mildura I met young people who led and co-created Home Base Mildura which provides marginalised young people a place to be safe and build meaningful connections and skills. In Warrnambool I saw the Local Learning and Employment Network working with schools and South-West TAFE on a Passport2Employment program to help students with disability transition into employment. In Corangamite I heard about "We Know Your Name But Not Your Story", an initiative by the shire council to connect young people with the whole community through storytelling.

These stories and innovations should be widely celebrated. And when the stories are not heard, it often means that a successful, community-led, place-based project doesn't secure sustainable funding. So they are back to square one.

More funding for services and better access to them is critical for young people in these communities to thrive. An investment in affordable housing is also crucial, as the ongoing deficit affects the ability of towns to attract workers, and young people to become independent, especially in smaller communities. It is hard enough finding skilled people to fill jobs in rural and regional Victoria, and severely limited housing options makes recruiting even more challenging.

Mental health issues also continue to be a significant concern for young people in rural and regional communities. Research shows that suicide is more prevalent the further away a person lives from the city. In our recent submission to the Royal Commission, YACVic highlighted the need to invest in significantly more, and more conveniently located, mental health services for young people in rural and regional Victoria and adopt a funding model that guarantees consistent access to services.

There must be specific targets concerning reductions in the rate of mental illness and self-harm among young people, including for young people in rural and regional areas, to ensure that progress is made. Young people are already leading the way through initiatives such as Live4Life, where young people train students on having peer conversations around mental health and accessing local services. But more support is required.

I am also concerned about anecdotal reports that the mental health crisis is being exacerbated by the lack of meaningful action on climate damage, causing young people to fear for their future. On this point, YACVic is in full support of this week's School Strike for Climate, and I congratulate the young organisers for leading the action that is desperately needed, mobilising hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including in a number of rural and regional communities. Young people are taking their future in their own hands.

I hope rural and regional communities continue doing everything they can to find new and unique ways of engaging, connecting and empowering young people. I hope more leaders, regardless of whether they are in business, government or the community sector, will pay more visits to rural and regional communities to understand the unique issues they face, and see the value of investing in long-term, community-led, place-based solutions.

Rural and regional communities, and their young people, deserve more.