Senator Jacqui Lambie is threatening to introduce a private senator’s bill to stop what she believes is “halal money” funding terrorist group Islamic State (‘Halal money’ funds terrorism: Jacqui Lambie’, Canberra Times, 10 February).
According to the Australian Food & Grocery Council, halal certification is “much like kosher or organic accreditation & organisations who offer halal certification services are subject to the same prohibitions on funding illegal entities & activity as any other organisation or individual under Australian law.”
Putting that reality to one side & accepting for a moment that the concerns of Senator Lambie & the redneck brigade are justified, one would have thought that they would be very keen to retain halal labelling so that Australian consumers could identify such products & refuse to buy them?
– John Richardson, CLA member, Wallagoot NSW
I believe the main issue with Halal Certification is that it is not clearly labelled. There are many, many products that are certified but show no label on the product at all. I have also heard that some products have a label INSIDE the packaging. Putting aside my personal views on this topic, I firmly believe that there should be a mandatory label for any product that is certified, contains any ingredient that is certified, has been transported in a certified vehicle (yes, they do that too) or has any contact with anything certified. One label, not the multitude that are out there at the moment. One label that will give the Australian consumers the choice to purchase or not without anything being hidden.