A WA Liberal Senate candidate will represent “the voice of God” and “the desires of the church” at “the highest levels of government” if she is elected, her husband and co-founder of a northern suburbs New Testament church has promised.

Pastor Paul Botha made the comments to Sunday congregants at the northern suburbs evangelical church he founded with his wife, Pastor Trish Botha.

Mrs Botha was preselected at the No.4 spot on the WA Liberal Senate ticket for the next Federal election two weekends ago.

“You’ve sent out Pastor Trish (Botha) and she’s going to the mountain of Government,” Mr Botha told the congregants of One Church in Merriwa during a service on Sunday, May 20.

Camera Icon WA Liberal senator Linda Reynolds. Credit: Megan Powell

Describing One Church’s missionary work and referring to his wife, Mr Botha said: “She’s right in the middle of a two-week process of being prepared and made ready to be a potential senator in the next election.

“Should she receive the votes she needs, she’ll be representing God’s move, the voice of God, the desires of the church, the Christian church, in the highest levels of government. She’ll be a watchman who will make sure that the laws that are presented and the laws that are debated will align as closely with God’s word, and God’s principles, as is possible for someone to do in that area.

“She is also mobilising the church to get engaged in the political process — and to ensure the church stays present in a season, in a time right now, where the voice of God is very quiet in places like politics and other key places. We need that voice to be amplified.”

Mr Botha’s remarks were recorded and posted on One Church’s website, but later taken down. Mrs Botha fell just two votes short of winning the No.3 spot on the Liberal ticket, falling just behind unsuccessful 2016 candidate for the Lower House seat of Burt, Matt O’Sullivan, 56 votes to 54.

The result underlines the growing influence of evangelical Christians in the WA Liberal Party, but Mr Botha’s comments also highlight how evangelicals are being urged to become politically active.

Senior figures across the Liberal Party’s major factions are watching the phenomenon with growing unease.

“It does worry me, if the Liberal Party gets taken over by these people — I don’t want us to have strident positions on abortion and social issues,” a senior party figure said.

Preselectors spoken to by The Sunday Times could not recall the subject of religion being raised, either by Mrs Botha in her presentation, or in the question-and-answer session that followed.

While incumbent senators Linda Reynolds and Slade Brockman won the first and second spots on the ticket, Mr O’Sullivan is expected to prevail easily in the tough but theoretically winnable third spot.

Mrs Botha’s No.4 spot is considered unwinnable, but few gave her any chance in a contest she lost by just two votes.

Calls and emails to One Church seeking comment from Mr and Mrs Botha were not returned.

Multiple Liberals with influence in internal party contests reacted with surprise when the contents of the recording were relayed to them.

Liberal State president Norman Moore declined to comment.

University of Notre Dame politics lecturer Martin Drum said: “I’m always more comfortable with someone whose religious connections are honest and open, rather than someone who is not. But it is highly unusual to have someone promoted like that from the pulpit.”