The problem is the certification, it is a money-making industry, I'm not sure if that's
The Federal Government Inquiry was launched on Halal certification after public outrage
sparked by Kirra-Lee Smith.
Dubbed the Accidental Activist, Kirra-Lee is your everyday Australian woman, wife and
mother who stumbled across some concerning facts and decided to do something about it.
In the end of 99-2000 my husband Greg and I decided to do a trip overseas.
We spent a month in Mali in North West Africa.
Seeing how Islam impacts the society and how dangerous it is, how difficult it is for women
and for minority groups has been just so incredibly helpful in our journey.
We had the opportunity in 2002 to go to Indonesia.
It was just staggering, the numbers, tens of thousands of people displaced and ten
thousand or so people murdered and we had heard nothing about it on the news.
That was an incredibly devastating experience.
We came home and I really just felt lost, I didn't know what to do.
In 2010 in my hometown there was a conference on Islam and the speaker at that conference
was phenomenal.
But one comment that he made through that conference was that he didn't buy halal
certified products as he wasn't sure where the money ended up and there was a suspicion
that it could be funding extremism.
That caught my attention and I went home that night actually and started googling halal
certified foods.
I couldn't find accurate information about this.
There was bits and pieces of information but there actually wasn't any clear list.
It was very hard to find out what was and what wasn't halal certified and I realised
very early on there's something wrong here and over the next ten months I did a lot of
research.
I contacted over 500 companies and found that there is in fact a lot of bribery, corruption
and misinformation about halal certifications.
I launched Halal Choices and we did not publicise it, we did not promote it at all and in a
very short space of time we had over 100,000 unique visitors a month to this website.
It clearly is an issue that a lot of consumers want information about.
After we launched the website most of the feedback was really positive but within a
few months I got some people being very angry in what I'd been exposing.
During that time I went to a conference and I met some representatives of the Syrian community.
That was one of the most significant turning points of my life.
Their relatives, some of them themselves, have had to flee Syria and it was so hard
to accept that this was actually happening in the world.
You see a lot of Christians fleeing the country because churches are bombed, schools are bombed.
If you are a Christian you have no place here so it's either convert to become a Muslim
or that's your life gone.
They very sincerely took hold of my hands and said please don't give up, please don't
stop what you're doing.
It's very important that you continue to share your message about how destructive Islam can
be to people.
It's very important that people hear the truth and I think that we all need to have this
conversation, we need to address that halal certification is fine.
If Muslims want to fund it, that is their choice but there is no way that that should
be imposed upon or funded by the majority of consumers in this country.
After years of researching and sharing my findings with consumers and companies, as
well as countless emails, phone calls and visits to politicians, the Senate finally
agreed to hold an inquiry into third party certification of food in 2015.
Senator Cory Bernardi was able to get the inquiry approved.
It ran for over six months, received an almost record number of submissions, about 1,500,
and included three days of hearings.
As the inquiry unfolded it became increasingly clear through the submissions and hearings
that my concerns were valid and important.
Issues of corruption, fraud, profiteering and monopolies became increasingly evident.
It struck me as odd that a tiny percentage of the country are making financial demands
of Australian companies to further their own cause.
The more I dug, the more concerned I was and yet no one in the government seemed to want
to pay any attention to it.
The abuse that came my way from sections of the media, sections of the government and
sections of the public for even talking about it, demonstrated to me how distorted public
debate can be.
So I was fortunate enough to get a broad ranging inquiry up into certification to see whether
the Halal certification was similar to the kosher certification, to the organic certification
and any other certification that takes place.
And what we discovered is even more alarming than I thought.
To date, the government has refused to implement these recommendations despite the bipartisan
agreement that they should be accepted.
These changes will benefit consumers, companies and meat exporters in this country.
It's completely unacceptable that the Australian government has either ignored or rejected
these practical steps that would benefit all Australians.
The Halal industry needs to accept clearer labelling to allow consumers to make informed
decisions regarding their grocery purchases and it must become a user-pays system and
all forms of discrimination must be removed.
In Australia, there are many different kinds of certifications that companies can pay for.
In nearly all cases, it is a deliberate part of their marketing strategy to target a particular
group of consumers.
For example, organic certification is for the healthy and environmentally conscious
consumer.
Kosher is for the Jewish consumer.
In nearly all cases, the certification is clearly marked.
These certifications are not hidden, nor are they profiting from the wider market who do
not want to pay more for these certifications.
The curious thing is that Halal certified products are not usually clearly marked on
labels.
In fact, the certification is often hidden or very difficult to find.
How does the consumer, either Muslim or non-Muslim, know that this product is suitable?
Where's the choice?
Why is it hidden?
Why are non-Muslim consumers subject to these certifications?
You have some religions, some branches of Christianity, of perhaps Judaism, certainly
of the Sikhs, where actually if something has been through a Halal ritual slaughter,
they're simply not allowed to partake in that.
So clear labeling is important.
The next item you buy, have a look, see if it's Halal certified.
What needs to happen is the government needs to act.
It needs to enforce strong labeling requirements, remove the profiteering from Halal certification,
and groups that want particular food produced a particular way should pay for that themselves.
I value and believe in the democratic and free society we enjoy in Australia.
I value and believe in freedom of religion.
I have a problem though when one religion or religious practice is imposed upon me and
leaves me with little or no choice.
It is my assertion that Halal certification practices are in fact imposed upon me and
our society, often without consumer knowledge or consent.
Many people who speak out against Halal certification are labeled as bigots or racist.
I have never heard someone who criticizes the Catholic church labeled a racist or a
bigot.
Since communism is not seen as an attack on Chinese or North Korean people, you would
certainly be seen as an idiot to call anti-communism racism, and yet anyone who wants to discuss
the religious political ideology known as Islam is shouted down with ridiculous name
calling.
Why is Islam as a subject untouchable and off limits?
This kind of behavior is not conducive to consumer confidence.
It is simply rude, arrogant, and dismissive of genuine concerns.
Imagine if it were discovered tomorrow that a Christian church or leader had been growing
rich from a certification scheme on products.
Imagine if it were discovered they went around to companies charging fees for inspections
to make it permissible.
Imagine if they started calling their detractors racists and bigots because they objected to
this fee.
Can you imagine the media criticizing and mocking anyone who objected to a Christian
leader becoming a millionaire from such practices?
That would never happen, nor should it.
There would be outrage expressed all over the country.
It sounds ridiculous, but that is exactly what is happening with halal certification.
No one in Australia would tolerate such a scheme if it were perpetuated by right wing,
fundamental Christians, and yet we seem to live in this politically correct bubble which
makes it taboo to criticize Islam, but you can criticize just about anything else.
And because we demand a choice and transparency in this industry, we are called racists and
bigots.
If your argument for halal certification is to be all warm and fuzzy when it comes to
cultural understanding, you would also want clear labeling for those other people that
are in cultures where they can't actually partake in something that's gone through
a halal ritual slaughter.
The other thing the Australian consumer needs to know about is whether money from their
purchase will fund a religious organisation, whether it be Islamic, Hindu, Jewish or Christian,
so they can make a choice about whether they want their money to go to that organisation.
Look halal certification concerns a lot of people and people just don't want to be forced
to pay for a product where part of the money is going off to a religious organisation to
basically fund elements of the propagation of that religion, and I can clearly understand that.
We are an overall multicultural country and that's what's beautiful about Australia,
but at the same time, specific groups should not be strictly imposing certain things or
certain laws that come from different countries onto the people that are here.
Many companies have paid halal fees despite their products already being permissible for
Muslims to consume. The requirements for a product to be halal or permissible basically
means no pork, alcohol or carrion. Most people can read the labels to determine whether or
not a product is suitable. As a result of education, market response and consumer pressure,
quite a few companies have now reconsidered paying halal fees on products that are already
considered halal. Well firstly I think domestically it's entirely unnecessary. I mean we have
maybe less than 2% of the population are Muslim or identify as Muslim. Most of them are not
observant Muslims and yet suddenly we're certifying water, all our livestock, our food
produce. It's entirely unnecessary, it's expensive and I think it's a scam and that's
been proven by the evidence in the Senate committee inquiry.
Many halal certifiers disagree about what constitutes halal. A lot of the organisations
say on their websites that products such as honey, milk, nuts, grains, fish are all naturally
halal. That is no fees are required. Why is it these companies are paying money to state
the obvious and then not disclosing it to the consumer? Why are some companies lying
about halal certification? You know there are a whole bunch of grubs in this industry
who are crooks and that's why I have no shame or compunction in saying the industry itself
is corrupt and it needs to be redeemed. If it is in our national interest to have our
export markets available, or these export markets available to us, well let's clean
it up, let's stop the rorts and let's stop certification in Australia on the widespread
scale that it currently is. There is a large level of concern within the community about
halal certification. There are many examples of how pervasive halal practices have become
in Australia. In many cases they are unnecessary and not even predominantly for the Muslim
market. This is just one example from the chicken industry. There are plenty more like
it. 5% of chicken processing is exported, yet most is for domestic consumption. More
than 70% of chicken processed in Australia is halal certified. Less than 5% of this is
exported, primarily to non-Muslim markets. So why are these companies paying around $40,000
a year to be halal certified? Why is it that around 6-7 Muslim only, male only halal slaughterers
are employed to pray and observe on site? Most slaughtering is done by machine and the
Muslim only, male only employee is therefore an Islamic religious ritual which is totally
irrelevant to most Australians. Do you really accept that those wages and certification
fees are absorbed by the chicken processor and not passed on to the consumer? Usually
at this point the naysayers like to jump on the it's for export bandwagon. Well chicken.org.au
reports the following. This means that virtually all chicken meat eaten in Australia is grown
in Australia. Also almost all chicken meat produced in Australia is consumed locally
with just under 5% being exported. Australian chicken meat is exported primarily to South
Africa, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and the South Pacific Islands. These are not
even primarily Muslim countries. The extent of halal certified products has clearly gone
way beyond what both Muslim and non-Muslim consumers would deem necessary. Look governments
do have competing interests and you know there's only half a dozen of the serious
meat exporters or so and they probably pack less clout than you know the hundreds of thousands
of Muslim voters and you know some of the foreign countries that they want to maintain
diplomatic ties to. We have seen through the inquiry process that 95% of chicken meat in
Australia is sacrificed to Allah even though there is no export market for chicken in Australia.
But the real rorts are going on domestically. There is no need for a halal certification
industry like we've got in this country and you can compare it and we did compare it with
you know the kosher certification which is run not for profit. It's tailor made and the
cost is inevitably borne by the small section of the community that look for that product.
We look for the organic certification which is credible and people are opting into that
but there is no way of effectively opting out of this halal certification. Companies
hide it. They won't disclose how much it's paid. All the evidence is it's coercive and
if you go to you know an abattoir you don't see too many non-Muslim women working there
because it's a closed shop and this is thuggery of the highest order. It is something we wouldn't
accept from any union but why are we accepting it from the union of halal certifiers. I have
been lobbied by the meat industry around those Senate recommendations. The meat industry
do want to see the Senate recommendations regarding export markets resolved. In fact
what they think would be the best practice in some respects would be to have a system
whereby if something is for an export halal market that that's the stuff that's actually
certified and they pay for that and the meat that's for the domestic market they don't
have to pay for it. It is very difficult to determine the actual
cost of halal certification in Australia. There is a great deal of secrecy. Most of
the companies asked say it's against their policy or against their contracts to disclose
the amount of halal certification. Despite this we discovered there is a very large price
range when it comes to halal certification. We know a chicken delivery van had to pay
several hundreds per year even though there was no difference to his van whether he paid
the fees or not. He was merely transporting the chicken which he had picked up from a
halal certified factory. Factories pay tens of thousands a year plus 3 cents per sticker
and that was a couple of years ago. A2 Milk told us that they were quoted around $7,000
per year they didn't go through with it. Copico told us that they were charged $1,500
a year to have one product halal certified. A confectionary supplier said that they were
quoted $1,375 but didn't go with it as they were not manufacturing or retailing
the product and it seemed unnecessary. Others like Fleurio have stated in the media they
pay around $1,000 a year despite the fact their products are halal anyway. It is interesting
to note that in some federal court documents that are available the cost of halal certification
is much higher. It says the ordinary licence fee for chicken kebab retailers was $5,000
per annum. The licence fee for wholesalers such as quality kebabs without GST was $27,090
in 2012, $33,580 in 2013 and $34,510 in 2014. We also know some abattoirs in Queensland
are having to fork out up to $27,000 per month for halal certification, money which
is allegedly being used to fund Islamic schools and mosques according to reports in several
media outlets. No matter what evidence is presented to the contrary there are none so
blind as those who will not see and there are plenty of blind people when it comes to
what's happening with funds from halal and how it's been misused internationally against
Western interests. Government regulations should be capping the price of halal certification
to ensure that it is simply cost recovery, you know, maybe an ordinary wage for the people
involved who are doing the certification but that's about it. I mean, you know, massive
profits above cost of recovery and taking an average living wage you've got to start
questioning why they're doing that and, well, the answer we know is to propagate their religion
now. There's a very big question around the ethics of that. It's vital that people understand
the link between halal certification and Islamisation. It is why we've made this documentary.
Mosques and Islamic schools teach the Quran. It's not illegal to teach the Quran in Australia.
However, many Australians are not in agreement with what is taught in this book. Inequality
of women, homosexuals and minority groups is taught in Australian mosques funded by
the prophets of halal certification. So why should non-Muslim Australian consumers contribute
towards such practices? Islam is divisive and is anathema to everything that we stand
for including our democracy. What is sharia? Sharia means the way or path. Islamic sharia
refers to the whole system of principles and rules which a Muslim is required to live by.
It relates to both criminal and civil justice and it also regulates personal and moral conduct.
Sharia goes way beyond food and halal but the point we want to make is the desire for
sharia to be accepted as a part of our mainstream society. So the money that is paid out in
fees for halal certification is used to fund in part or whole sharia in Australia. For
example, the Supreme Islamic Council of Halal Meet in Australia are a registered charity
earning more than a million dollars a year. Their purpose is stated on their website as
advancing religion. How do they fund it? Primarily through the shopping purchases of non-Muslim
consumers. No informed consent has been given by the majority of consumers and there is
a great need for this information to be present on the labels. The Islamic Council also refers
to sharia on their website. Islam is not a mere religion. It is a way of life with rules
and manners governing every facet of life. Since food is an important part of daily life,
food laws carry a special significance. An Islamic leader quoted as saying let's dominate
the world through halal. This is another example that halal and sharia go hand in hand. Without
sharia there is no such thing as halal. As a former nurse I care about the treatment
of women and children and last year alone the Australian Federal Police investigated
69 cases of forced underage marriage, some as young as nine. Now that is not acceptable
and it's estimated that in this country close to 83,000 women have been subjected to female
genital mutilation. We're also recognising polygamous marriage. Under section six of
the Family Law Act, provided the marriage is carried out overseas, we recognise polygamous
marriage. All of these things are part of Islam and sharia and it's not acceptable.
The Islamic Council of Victoria actually advocated to a parliamentary inquiry as to why sharia
law should come into Australia and we should accept it when it comes to family law. Now
I can't think of a worse outcome quite frankly, having sharia law, a law that puts women on
a very different level to men, that is sexist, being part of our family law system. Without
a doubt what we can say is that there's clear discrimination and in Australia we would say
that men and women are on equal footing. Q Society is a human rights organisation. We
are concerned about the impact of Islamic sharia on our society. Discussing Islam is
not about denigrating Muslims or hating anyone and it's not a right or a left wing issue.
It is a human rights issue. Do your own research. There are plenty of sites, there are plenty
of Islamic sites that are available that will provide you information about halal certification,
that will provide you information about sharia law. Go and actually have a look at the Islamic
websites that promote the proper understanding of sharia law and you will be surprised to find
how wide sharia law goes. From the criminal regulations such as death through apostasy,
all the way through to how a husband should treat or mistreat his wife, all the way through to how
a person should wash their hands. The last thing we want is a system that brings Islamic law into
Australia, imposes it on our food and spreads from there. In the USA, Canada and France there
have been proven links between halal certification organisations, Islamic charities and terrorist
organisations. It is reasonable that these links are thoroughly investigated here in Australia. In
Australia the government issued this report from the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2011
titled Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks to Australian Non-Profit Organisations.
It is concerning that charities in particular are thought to provide terrorists with the ideal
vehicle with which to both generate support for their activities and propagate their particular
ideologies. The report also states there exists many examples of organisations which in addition
to their violent activities devote significant time and resources to take care of the poor in a
more or less institutionalised way. So-called asset substitution where funds are interchanged
between legitimate and illegitimate uses is seen as a particular issue and is carried out by groups
such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the LTTE. These groups are recognised as sponsoring a combination
of humanitarian and terrorist activities. Some of the Islamic charities that receive halal
certification funds or some of the organisations in Australia that receive halal certification
funds then go on and support Islamic movements or organisations internationally that do have
links to groups like Hamas or Hezbollah or are supporting agendas that are against the national
interest. Now one of those I think is HAI, Human Appeal International and they've been linked to
those sorts of outfits and yet we have Islamic halal certifiers in this country proudly talking
about the money they give them. AUSTRAC lists financial contributions through formal charitable
donations as one of the three most common methods by which terrorism funds are raised in Australia.
More recently AUSTRAC published this report, Terror Financing Australia 2014. The report says
some Australia-based charities and NPOs have been exploited by terrorist groups to raise relatively
large amounts of money over time. These organisations can be exploited in a number of ways.
Charities and NPOs can be used to disguise international funds transfers to high-risk
regions. Funds raised for overseas humanitarian aid can be co-mingled with funds raised
specifically to finance terrorism. Funds sent overseas by charities with legitimate intentions
can also be intercepted when they reach their destination country and siphoned off for use by
terrorist groups. The government really does have an obligation to step in and make sure that it's
regulated appropriately. It seems that AUSTRAC knows for certain that charities and NPOs have
been used to fund terrorism and yet there is no disclosure, charges have not been laid and one
could presume they are still operating. Perhaps if organisations and individuals were not able
to profiteer from halal certification the risks of funding terrorism would be decreased. We know
in the USA, France and Canada this is exactly how extremist groups have been funded. It really must
be noted that many Muslims also speak out against the current use of halal fees and practices.
An imam from South Africa delivered a comprehensive sermon about it a few years ago.
He said halal stamps have knowingly been granted to products later found to not be halal at all
and it is happening here with the desire for profit getting in the way of common sense
and stamps being sold to be affixed on products such as water, toothpicks and black pepper. This
is a clear misuse of the system. We've seen evidence in Indonesia I believe the Umar council
there all of the imams and shakes that determine what's you know halal and what's not they raised
questions about one Australian certification company and if you dig deep on the net you'll
find many other cases overseas where certification companies right across the world not just in
Australia have been called into question. One of them actually was done for putting pork meat
in a product in Europe and you would think that for the integrity of the halal system themselves
they want it regulated stop dodgy operators like that. The Sydney Morning Herald have published
articles about the very concerning fact that AFIC and many Islamic councils control millions
of dollars in halal certification fees. The money is also a vital subsidy to the new Islamic schools
flourishing in Australia. Islamic individuals and groups have said themselves that the halal fees
could end up funding Islamic extremists. The government has a responsibility to ensure that
allegations of corruption are investigated. Predominantly Islamic countries such as Indonesia,
Malaysia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have one main halal certification body. Australia has at least
33 halal certifiers which are formed into two main groups. The first is the Islamic incorporated
associations of which there are 15 certifiers and the second are private companies or businesses
of which there are 18 certifiers. Really why do we need so many different certifications
and what you find though and this is where the problem does come into play is that
Malaysia might have one requirement that Saudi Arabia doesn't that Iran doesn't that Iraq does
they have to it's got to be careful working with each of these export markets to ensure that
whatever process that we put in place satisfies that market but you could whittle it down to
probably four or five regulate it to stop them from price gouging because I've got to say I
think there is a lot of that that goes on and that's certainly the complaints that come from
the main industry that only go forward that undergo public for fear that they could be
blacklisted by the halal certifiers or they could be charged more. Some Islamic associations have
also formed companies or have registered business names for the purpose of running their halal
certification as businesses. This is necessary to profit from the gains because incorporated
associations are meant to be not-for-profit club or community groups. Each of these 33 separate
halal certifiers have different labels, different standards, different qualifications if they have
any at all, different market accreditation and different motives. It's very cumbersome
and confusing. This is by no means a complete list and some may no longer be certifying at the time
of publication. They provide similar services yet some are charities and some are private
businesses. Australia has approximately half a million Muslims which is around 2.2 percent of
the population and 33 known halal certifying bodies. Indonesia has 210 million Muslims
which is about 84 percent of their population and only one halal certifying body as does Malaysia
and all other Islamic countries for that matter and all are government bodies. Our Islamic trading
partners all have just one government-run, government-regulated halal body. Australia's halal
industry is an unregulated mess. Halal certification is not a charity in any way shape or form.
A charitable organisation may run a halal certification company and get the benefit of
being a charity. Quite clearly it is a business. Halal certification isn't a charity. Oh it's clearly
a business. There's no charity about it. One of the certifiers which is that crooked organisation
called Muslims Australia or AFIC when we held them up to account for their financial accounts
it couldn't justify or legitimise any of it. They say that it's a not-for-profit service and yet they
were profiteering extraordinarily from it, not paying any tax and then those funds were being used
to support or indulge the demands of a few and AFIC have since been proven, I thought at the
time, that they have misused taxpayers' money. It is riddled with corruption and yet they're out
there claiming the moral high ground for halal certification. It's been clearly shown that the
main purpose of halal certification is to raise money for mosques, Islamic schools, Islamic
charities and other Islamic organisations. Australians opposed to halal certification are
not bigots. They simply want to enjoy the tolerance and freedoms supposedly available
to everyone in our democracy. I do not want Islamic religious practices imposed upon me
and I do not want to fund them. That is my democratic right in a free and tolerant society.
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