The 17-year-old was diagnosed at the age of six and she and her family have been actively campaigning for government funding for research to one day find a cure. 

Charlotte and her mum Mylee Collins will travel from Warrnambool to Canberra next week, with more than 100 children from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) to put it at the forefront of politicians’ minds. 

Charlotte is a representative for the 122,300 Australians with type 1. As part of the Kids in the House delegation they will meet with politicians including Federal Member for Wannon Dan Tehan at Parliament House. “We’ll meet up with him to get his support for the new funding commitment for $50 million over the next five years,” Ms Collins said.

“We need (Prime Minister) Malcolm Turnbull and (opposition leader) Bill Shorten to agree to this level of funding because the current funding they have committed to us is about to expire. It's $50 million for research. The last campaign we were part of was in 2010 so it will be a nice way to come full circle and cap off ten years of involvement."

They visited Canberra in 2010 and Melbourne’s Parliament House in 2009 to raise awareness of the importance of continued medical research support. In the Wannon electorate 800 people have type 1 diabetes.

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