“The church across its parishes, schools and service agencies makes a powerful contribution to Australian society,” Dr Freier said.

He takes over from Brisbane archbishop Phillip Aspinall, who is stepping down after nine years.

Raised in a working-class suburb in Brisbane, where his father worked for Queensland Railways, Dr Freier’s first love was science — not spirituality.

He trained as an educator and asked to be posted in an indigenous community.

It was in Far North Queensland that Dr Freier, profoundly influenced by Aboriginal Christians, underwent what he calls a “conversion of identity”.

Thus began his rise through the Anglican Church: ordained as a deacon in 1983, Dr Freier was made a priest in 1984 and elected a bishop in 1999 for the Northern Territory, where he led many services in indigenous languages.

Dr Freier has been vocal about what he sees as the moral requirement to support asylum seekers, and last year told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse that abusers would not be absolved of their sins by his church until they handed themselves in to police.

The married father of two and grandfather of three holds a PhD in history.