Kirralie Smith (centre) at the Q Society fundraiser held at North Ryde RSL. Credit:Wolter Peeters The cartoon fetched $600, which will go towards the legal defence bill of the Q Society's leading members, most notably Kirralie Smith, the charismatic blonde who ran in the last election as a NSW Senate candidate for the Australian Liberty Alliance. The pro-"halal choice" campaigners, who insist they are against Islam but not Muslims, are being sued for defamation by Halal certifier Mohamed El-Mouelhy. They frame the case, brought over Mrs Smith's videos about halal certification practices, as an attack on free speech. They estimate their defence bill will be $1 million.

Former Liberal MP and Sky News host Ross Cameron at the Q Society fundraiser in February. Credit:Wolter Peeters "Australia is much further down the path of political correctness than most people realise," Q Society president Debbie Robinson told the 160-odd guests, gathered at the North Ryde RSL. "People are beginning to wake up. Brexit and recent results in the US and Europe are indicative of the rise of conservatism. Cartoonist Larry Pickering at the fundraiser. Credit:Wolter Peeters "What we are doing is right and we are righteous."

On Friday night, another fundraiser will be held in Melbourne, where the VIP guests slated include Liberal Party defector Cory Bernardi and LNP MP George Christensen, who remains in the Turnbull government tent. Supporters of the movement believe they speak for a silent majority who fear the impact of Islam on Australian society, and are fed up with political correctness. They associate strongly with the rise of Donald Trump – one man seated near Fairfax Media wore a "Deplorable" T-shirt which he pointed to proudly whenever the US president was mentioned by speakers, which was frequently. The event was emceed by singer Angry Anderson, who kept the crowd amused with a constant patter about his ex-wife ("She said I was a violent man because I ate red meat, but that's a story for my next book…"). Other VIP speakers included former Liberal MP Ross Cameron and crime fiction author Gabrielle Lord.

Mr Cameron, who has a television show on Sky News, constantly mentioned homosexuality in his speech. He spoke about the classical philosophers, who valued reason over orthodoxy, and said Socrates "might have had a bit of same-sex attraction". He said the Roman emperor Hadrian had a young male lover who "fell off the back of a barge". "I'm sure he was snorting coke at the time," Mr Cameron said. "The NSW division of the Liberal Party is basically a gay club," he told guests.

"I don't mind that they are gay, I just wish, like Hadrian, they would build a wall." In a rambling speech, Mr Cameron moved onto Marcus Aurelius, who "said it was better to exist than not exist – that's one of the reasons I'm quite attracted to heterosexuality". Mr Cameron said too often debate is shut down by people who say "the person who doesn't agree with me is a bad, evil, bigoted, redneck, racist xenophobe". He likened Kirralie Smith to Copernicus, who took on the orthodoxy of the time "supported by a big propaganda machine of largely taxpayer-funded money", and said we needed leaders who wanted something more than to be "applauded on the stage" – a comment which drew applause. "That, in the end, is what I admire most about Kirralie and Debbie and [cartoonist] Bill Leak …and Larry Pickering, Cory Bernardi," he said.

"There could not be a more authentic expression of the goodness of Australian than Kirralie Smith." Novelist Gabrielle Lord, whose latest novel is about forced marriage in a Muslim community, said she had met many Muslim women who had been abused and persecuted. "Brothers and sisters, there is a war on and unfortunately…we are caught a little unaware because they were better prepared than we are," Lord told the crowd, apparently referring to Muslims. Her publishers had asked her to include "more attractive Muslim characters" and more about the "positives" of Islam. She took this as a sign people are too frightened to speak the truth about Islam – something she could understand as offending Muslims could lead to "bricks thrown through windows and rioting".

Lord spoke lovingly of the institutions built by Western society and said "the other mob only build one kind of building, as you know". Another Larry Pickering cartoon auctioned depicted an imam as a pig, being roasted on a spit, with a "halal certified" stamp on its rump. A case of wine called "72 Virgins" was also up for grabs, along with a signed photograph of Dame Joan Sutherland. Ms Smith addressed the dinner briefly at the end, passionately detailing stories of people persecuted by Islam around the world. She said she was anti-Islam, not anti-Muslims, and said she did not incite violence, but exposed the people who incited violence. The prophet Mohammed was violent, and "five times a day Muslims are praying to be like him and that is unacceptable".

In keeping with the tactics of Mr Trump, the media was derided by many of the speakers. The ABC was referred to as "the enemy station" and Mr Cameron made special mention of reporters present from the "Sydney Morning Homosexual". "Trigger warning for the Herald, there are heterosexuals in the room…I have to warn you there are some males who are attracted to females in this room." Mr Cameron also joked the Herald's editorial board would have not objected to the Carthaginians' practice of child burning, for reasons of political correctness. Loading When contacted Friday morning, Ms Smith said she did not know how much money the dinner had raised for the cause.