Is halal as bad as Pauline Hanson says?

PAULINE Hanson has declared war on halal certification. But does it really push up food prices and fund terrorism?

PAULINE Hanson won’t be sharing a halal snack pack with Labor’s Sam Dastyari on the floor of the Senate any time soon.

Banning halal certification is one of the One Nation leader’s key policies, but she’s not the first political figure to voice concerns about the process.

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie and Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi have been vocal critics of halal certification, and Mr Bernardi’s push for a parliamentary inquiry last year was supported by crossbenchers Bob Day, Glenn Lazarus, David Leyonhjelm, John Madigan and Ricky Muir.

According to One Nation, halal is a money-making “racket” that imposes a religious “tax” on Australian consumers, drives up the price of groceries and even potentially funds terrorism.

“By buying halal certified products, it means that you are financially supporting the Islamisation of Australia, including Sharia Law, which opposes our Australian Constitution and democracy,” One Nation’s policy platform says.

“The halal certification fees extracted from companies would have to be passed on to the consumer as this is a large cost to them. Australians are being forced, and we will use the word forced, to buy food that is halal certified.”

However, the Senate inquiry failed to find evidence for those claims.

So what is halal certification?

Halal is an Arabic word that means permitted or lawful, as opposed to haram, or forbidden. In the context of food, it means it is fit for consumption by Muslims.

Halal foods don’t contain traces of alcohol, blood or pork, and halal applies to the way an animal is slaughtered. Animals are pre-stunned, but still alive when their throats are cut, so that the blood leaves their bodies.

A large number of food manufacturers pay for halal certification to access the growing market, which is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 trillion globally. In Australia, halal food exports generate around $8.5 billion a year.

Critics such as Kirralee Smith, founder of Halal Choices, say foods that have been halal certified should be more clearly labelled so consumers can make an “informed choice” about where their money goes.

DOES IT FUND TERRORISM?

While last year’s Senate inquiry found the certification industry was under-regulated and criticised local certifiers for their “lack of co-operation” in the inquiry, the Australian Crime Commission said it had “not found any direct links” with terrorism funding.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre also said it had found no evidence of such a link.

“There have been various public claims that fees from certifying halal food may be funding terrorism. AUSTRAC has no information that indicates halal certification is linked to terrorism,” it said.

Senator Bernardi, however, said that it was “logical to conclude that funding derived from halal certification could be directed to Islamic charities and objectives”.

He pointed out that the AUSTRAC’s 2014 report into terrorism financing in Australia “found that there is a high risk that charities and not-for-profit organisations could be used as channels for terrorism funding”.

That report warned that “some Australia-based charities and NPOs have been exploited by terrorist groups”.

Halal certifier Halal Australia says the service fees paid are used “to maintain the normal costs of running a registered business in Australia”.

“Halal certification profits do not go towards supporting any terrorist activities or violent politically motivated religious organisations,” it says on its website.

“Nor do we have anything to do with any organisation or group anywhere in the world that incites violence and are not aligned with our values of freedom, egalitarianism, equality of opportunity, and mutual respect and tolerance.”

DOES IT PUSH UP FOOD PRICES?

One submission to the Senate inquiry claimed some fees were as “high as $27,000 per month ($324,000/year) and this obviously has to be passed on to the consumer, which is evident in the increased prices I am paying, which is not reflected in the price the primary producers are receiving for their goods”.

However, the final report found that the evidence “overwhelmingly suggests that halal certification does not result in increased food prices”.

“This view was shared by government departments and other submitters,” it said.

Melbourne-based halal consultant Abdul Ayan argued that halal certification could in fact help lower prices by quoting Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.

“[In] the rural sector, we know these are really strong markets for us, big markets, reliable markets that stood the test of time, and we work very well [with them],” Mr Joyce said.

“They don’t ask us to become Islamic, we don’t ask them to become Christians, we trade extremely well and we get along very well and we understand each other very well and we don’t want any unnecessary heat brought into this space because the only people who [will] lose in this will be us.”

The Australian Food and Grocery Council says manufacturers “only obtain halal certification if it is worth their while to do so”.

“In most cases, this means that the costs of certification are highly unlikely to influence product pricing, and so consumers do not end up paying any more for certified product,” the AFGC says.