Aspire Cultural and Charitable Foundation chief executive officer Margaret O’Rourke said the Labor and Coalition MPs she met with had showed a high degree of interest in the plan.

“I think they all realised that it is a key project in terms of the interfaith activities, and it’s a project that has significant national importance and they certainly all acknowledged that,” she said.

“They all commented on the hard work that’s been done in terms of the project’s completeness.”

Ms O’Rourke said the trip, with Aspire board member Cameron Fraser, was an opportunity to share the foundation’s vision for the project, having applied for funding through the federal government’s National Stronger Regions Fund.

She said the foundation was optimistic it would receive the final $5 million needed for the project, which has already attracted $10 million in state government funding as well as private donations.

“We’ve been working on this project for a number of years and we’re always optimistic about this project, we believe it will happen,” she said.

“At the moment we have private and state contributions and we would love the federal government to come in and be part of that.”

Ms O’Rourke said the project’s business case predicted the precinct would attract and additional 41,000 additional tourists to central Victoria each year.

“From a tourism point of view, faith-based tourism is a global drawcard now,” she said.

“Why this is culturally strong for Bendigo is because of the faith assets we have here, with the Great Stupa, with the Chinese museum and Joss House, the Sacred Heart Cathedral, the largest regional cathedral in Australia.”

MPs the delegation met with in Canberra included Regional Development Minister Fiona Nash, Tourism Minister Richard Colbeck, Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher, Shadow Citizenship and Multiculturalism Minister Michelle Rowland and Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Senator Bridget McKenzie and Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters have both already voiced support for the project.