The national peak body for young people, defunded by the Abbott government in its first budget, has called for a meeting with the Prime Minister, saying it will soon close without a financial lifeline.

The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition works in various ways to advance the interests of the 4 million Australians aged 12 to 25, including through advising Federal Government departments and appearing at Senate inquiries.

But the organisation, which has lost almost all of its staff since losing funding in the 2014 Budget, is now seeking an audience with the Prime Minister to secure its future.

Chairperson Katie Acheson said given the political apathy among younger people — and the importance of issues that directly involve them, such as radicalisation — the group must be able to continue its work.

"We had about eight people working for the organisation pulling together research and talking to young people and doing programs and things like that before we were defunded," Ms Acheson told the ABC.

"And now we've got one person one day a week. And we are doing really quite high-level meetings and making policy recommendations."

Group has 'mandate' to give youth voice

By the end of the year — an important one, Ms Acheson said, given a federal election is due — the organisation will be insolvent.

"Young people really don't have a voice in politics at all — there is no avenues for young people to speak to directly to politicians at the moment.

"We have a bit of mandate to do that, and it's really challenging when you don't have funding to do so."

In a letter to Malcolm Turnbull, AYAC national director Leo Fieldgrass said the organisation's closure would impact "youth and community engagement with priority policy issues, such as workforce participation, radicalisation and social cohesions, school-to-work transition, family violence, vocational education and training and mental health".

"We therefore request a meeting with you and your advisers to discuss how our your government can ensure policy relevance to young people and their families and engage young people in important initiatives such as the innovation agenda."

With youth radicalisation a key issue, Ms Acheson said, the group needed to be able to bring young people's views and experiences to the attention of those in power.

"A lot of the focus ... [with] countering violent extremism is to try to help young people, and particularly young males, try to feel more engaged and part of the community and accepted and supported," she said.

"In a time when we are worried about radicalisation and we are throwing around some pretty big words, and we are putting young people in the midst of that, it is particularly important to ask them what they need and want and what would make them feel more supported and engaged in society."