Martyn Iles,the head of the Australian Christian Lobby,referenced his organisation’s campaign against Victoria’s recent ban on “conversion” therapy - or practices that attempt to change or suppress someone’s sexuality or gender identity - which he said yielded 13,000 calls to MPs.

“All of a sudden I’m actually seeing people rising up more and more and more,” he said. “Give this a couple of years and we’ll be able to put such a shockwave through any Parliament in the country they won’t even know what hit them. And we’re almost at that point.”

Mr Iles called upon Christians to be more politically visible,claiming this had worked for LGBTQI activists.

“[If] you meet someone from that movement,you know very quickly,” he said. “You also find them in hospitality,the arts and entertainment,in public facing positions where they’re visible all the time … retail,clothing shops and this kind of thing. They’re very,very muscular in saying ‘we’re proud of who we are and you my employer need to affirm my pride’.”

Mr Iles said Christians tended to “hide in plain sight”. “The more we are seen for who we really are,the more powerful our influence is actually going to be,” he said.

The ACL director also spoke at length about what he called “the transgender thing”,describing it as the weakest part of the LGBTQI rights movement because it was “where the lie is most fragile”.

In prepared remarks,he said governments had “given up[their] God-given duty” to “punish those who do evil and reward those who do good”,and implied that behaviour viewed by the church as sinful should be outlawed.

“[Governments should] say ‘that’s wrong,it’s out’,and ‘that’s right,it’s in’,” Mr Iles said. “What’s happening is the opposite. What they’re saying is,‘that’s wrong,it’s in,that’s right,it’s out’.”

In a later panel discussion,Mr Iles joked that his father often said “we need a good war” to sort this out and “there’s a little bit of truth in that”,because society would not be so concerned about climate change or gender identity if we were at war with China.

Mr Pellowe then interjected:“We’re not advocating violence or revolution … today.” Mr Iles added:“Not yet,that’s down the line.”

In another conference session,Cardinal George Pell urged the audience “not to co-operate” with attempts to change “Christian language patterns” about gender,motherhood and fatherhood.

“Politely,stubbornly,persistently refuse to be silenced and refuse to give ground,” he instructed.

The Australian Christian Lobby did not respond to requests for further comment. Mr Pellowe said he had “nothing to add” and suggested buying the conference videos when available later this month.