A quiet revolution against the lies buttressed by political correctness is gathering pace.

Dapples of sunlight are flickering through.

Last night in North Queensland, almost 100 people packed a small meeting room at Townsville Stadium to hear from sacked James Cook University Professor Peter Ridd, sacked Army Major Bernard Gaynor, alt media presenter Dave Pellowe, Calvary Christian Church pastor James McPherson and me.

Whether it was the police cover-up of the bombing of my office when I was at Australian Christian Lobby, the crushing of Professor Ridd’s academic inquiry, the taxpayer-funded hounding of Bernard Gaynor through the courts by a gay activist or the fear of forced conciliation at the hands of the Australian Human Rights Commission, the message was clear – free speech is no longer free.

It is costly. People are paying by losing their careers, reputations, the equity in their family homes and even through risk of personal safety.

This is not the Australia I grew up in.

And while the crowd was mostly in the older demographic, the event was the initiative of the Young Conservatives North Queensland.

A young mum, a former soldier and Christmas Island security guard and a commission only salesman all dipped into their own pockets to underwrite the event.

This is incredible commitment to a precious freedom that is being destroyed by a politically correct elite that has bought into identity politics and weaponised so-called human rights commissions around the nation to go after people who do not fit the new orthodoxy.

So much for tolerance and diversity.

Ridd is a highly regarded academic and climate sceptic who has questioned whether the Great Barrier Reef is really dying.

He will soon be in the Federal Court in Brisbane fighting for his career and reputation.

Gaynor pushed back on the Army’s decision to allow troops to march in uniform at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Would the defence top brass allow troops march in uniform at a political rally that vilified Islam? Of course not.

But it is okay for them to march in a parade that mocks Christianity and the natural family.

Anyone familiar with James MacPherson’s twitter feed will not be surprised that his contribution last night was a funny and withering take-down of the taxpayer-funded human rights industry’s attempts to control thought, speech and theology in Australia.

Israel Folau might have responded to a question on social media about what he believes happens to sinners in the afterlife but Qantas wants people like him punished in this life, McPherson observed.

It would all be very funny if it were not so serious.

Forums like last night’s are only going to multiply and the alt media is only going to grow.

And political movements like Australian Conservatives want to provide political representation to this quiet revolution.