In 2018, Shelton resigned from his ACL position to re-enter party politics, joining Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives as federal communications director.
[19] ACL activities include: The Australian Christian Coalition (ACC) was founded in 1995 by John Gagliardi,[41] a lay leader of a large Pentecostal church in Brisbane.
[44] In September 2012, the then prime minister, Julia Gillard cancelled a speech to the ACL's annual conference after the organisation's managing director, Jim Wallace, argued that the health effects of homosexuality on individuals were worse than smoking.
[45] The Australian Christian Lobby has threatened to take the unprecedented step of campaigning against a Coalition government, warning Liberal MPs that it could direct members to support minor right-wing parties if they did not follow their policy of a people's vote.
[48] In September 2016, a meeting at a Sydney hotel, planned by ACL to discuss same-sex marriage issues, had to be cancelled due to "threats of violence" to staff and guests.
[53] The assistant commissioner, Justine Saunders, the Chief Police Officer for the Australian Capital Territory, also stated that Duong had selected the ACL's car park to set off the explosion as it was isolated.
[58] In March 2017, ACL was granted permission by The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to keep their board members' names secret on the grounds of public safety, following abuse and threats.
[62][63] During the campaigning associated with the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, the ACL received threats and suspicious packages were sent to their office which necessitated the evacuation of 30 staff at the Canberra mail-centre.
While its claimed constituency is unproven, John Warhurst, emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University said that ACL has been successful in establishing itself "in the top echelon of lobbying groups",[48] has the "professional knowledge to run modern election campaigns"[67] and "will not go away".
[70] In contrast, Geoffrey Robinson, a senior lecturer at Deakin University, stated in 2015 that the ACL's influence had been decreasing since 2013 and the organisation had become only influential on the conservative side of politics.
[71] Former attorney-general Robert McClelland said in a speech to the ACL's 2012 conference that those protesting against the organisation would not have recognised that it had supported amendments to 84 pieces of commonwealth legislation that removed discrimination against same-sex couples.
[72] In contrast, in 2012 the leader of the Australian Greens, Christine Milne, stated that the ACL's "whole focus is to attack the gay community" and as it is a private company with no affiliated churches, it was not suitable for the prime minister to attend its events.
[75] In 2016 the Australian Sex Party called for the ACL to be deregistered as a charity on the grounds that its main focus is political campaigning against same-sex marriage.