Before losing the mayor's role with Greater Shepparton City Council, Cr O'Keeffe travelled with key local stakeholders and Committee for Greater Shepparton to Canberra.
The delegation met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other cabinet ministers to advocate on behalf of the Greater Shepparton region.
Cr O'Keeffe presented the Ask of Government plan to Mr Morrison.
Cr O'Keeffe said although water was a major talking point in the document, it also outlined Shepparton's homelessness crisis.
“The document says — and we brought it up in conversation — how Shepparton has missed out on government funding in the past,” she said.
“We know the statistics that Shepparton has the highest number of homeless people in the state outside of metropolitan Melbourne, so our argument is that we need to keep getting that funding.
“Although we didn't talk directly with the prime minister about homelessness as water is one of the key priorities, it did come up in conversation with other ministers.
“I can't stress enough how important that document is for the future of Greater Shepparton because it's council's advocating tool to pull more state and federal funding."
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