An Australia politician has said a government-funded anti-bullying campaign crosses the line into advocacy and is ‘little more than a gay lifestyle promotion program.’

Peter Abetz, a Western Australia state government backbencher, made the comments in a private briefing to fellow Liberal MPs at parliament, the Western Australian reported.

The Safe Schools Coalition Australia program, funded by an $8 million grant from the federal government, will be implemented from the middle of this year.

‘The militant gay lesbian lobby is trying to get this into our schools to "normalize" what they consider the LGBTI agenda,’ he said.

‘I think in Australia most people are quite tolerant. Most people know someone among their relatives or workmates who is a lesbian or gay or whatever, and they don’t bat an eyelid – they just accept them as human beings with inherent value and you treat them with dignity and respect.’

The former pastor added that encouraging teenagers to self-identify as LGBTI could be harmful in the long term as most young people with same-sex attraction or transgender feelings lost them as they matured.

LGBTI rights activist Rodney Croome said that Abetz’s comments displayed exactly the kind of stigma that the program was designed to counteract.

‘The idea that homosexuality is a "phase" belongs in the 1950s, where most people left it,’ he told the Guardian Australia.

‘About 10% of students in Western Australia are gay or transgender, and about 10% of the adult population is too.’

Croome said anti-gay bullying had been linked to higher rates of suicide, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse and poor performance at school.

‘The safe schools program is giving teachers the skills and information they need to effectively combat LGBTI bullying in the classroom,’ he said.

‘He can call that propaganda if he wants. I call it saving lives.’