As you may have noticed there has been a massive moral panic in the UK about the growth of halal certified products, which has permeated into Australia.

Central to this (orchestrated) panic is the idea that consumers are being slugged with a halal-certification tax - which, needless to say, is being used to fund terrorists and all the rest of it. Type in any search related to the key words "halal certified meat" and you will be inundated with thousands of islamophobic sites talking about consumers being forced to pay for the halal certification that has been issued to a range of food products available on the supermarket shelf.

Peeling away the hysteria, its worthwhile understanding the actual facts of this issue:

1. Abbattoirs who are halal certified do get charged a fee to a recognised islamic body to have their facility halal certified.

2. The argument about consumers being charged a 'halal tax' is based on the completely baseless assumption that the meat processes pass on their halal-certification fees on to the consumer.

Read any of the islamophobic sites that screech about this halal tax - or "infidel tax", and not one of them will give you any actual figures for what the consumer is charged for this tax on any given product. This is because the idea is an unfounded assumption based entirely on a flawed and over-simplified understanding of the market - and not on any actual hard facts. The islamophobes peddling this campaign could very easily prove their point by comparing a known halal-certified product with its non-halal certified equivalent product - and simply illustrating the price difference. But they don't - why is that?

Now here's a thought...

- The islamophobes won't demonstrate the halal tax in practice, because, quite simply, the meat processes do not pass on their halal certification costs to the consumer.

- Maybe the business advantage of having a halal-certified product (ie increasing their customer base) overshadows, by a very large margin, the (relatively) small halal-certification fee.

Finally, I'll inject some very simple common sense into this illogical and hysterical debate: looking at it from a purely business point of view, these meat processors are free to continue with their non-halal certified meat processing, yet choose to apply for halal certification with all the associated certification fees that comes with it. Why would they willingly (and discounting the hilariously baseless claim that these processors are forced or coerced by intimidating muslims to make themselves halal) make this decision? Why would any business make a business decision they know would adversely affect their bottom line? The only sensible and logical conclusion is that these processors want to jump on the halal bandwagon because they know it will be profitable for them.

Indeed.

The islamophobes will have you believe there is a groundswell of resentment amongst the community who are demanding the choice to not pay this infidel tax.

If that were true, then market forces would kick in - and you'd get a whole new range of products flooding the shelves proudly labelled "ingredients contain *NO* halal certified products".

But that doesn't happen - why? Because most people simply don't give a rats arse about which way their beef was facing and what was chanted while it was being slaughtered, and the influx of halal products is certainly not hitting their hip pocket.

Karnal wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 1:43pm:


How about renaming the carbon tax a 'petrol levy'?

We could exempt special people from paying the tax -  like mining billionaires.

Are Australians Gina Rinehart's dhimmis? Perhaps Clive Palmer or Kerry Stokes has the answer?

Yadda wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 2:50pm:


Yes they fund alqaeda.

Bin ladin comes to australia once a month and picks up the halal meat cheque. The then takes it to the stgeorge bank which is in the mountains and swaps the cheque for cash.

Why should Australia get all that export money from the Middle East?

Quote:


Probably New Zealand is more deserving of this trade. Let the kiwis have it I suppose. Australia has enough money already.




Anyway, it will be better if Muslims buy products only from Muslim suppliers - keep the money in the community.

I demand that big corporations stop exploiting the Muslim community, and stop stripping money out of the community!

polite_gandalf wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 11:57am:


I work for myself Gandalf and pass on all input costs as I refuse to work for free!

Please give me a link to your assumption.

How would you like to be forced to eat something you did not agree with, pork for instance?

wally1 wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 1:19pm:


alot? Link please to this supporter base?

An abattoir in central Qld balked at the cost of Halal certification and refused to pay the $27k per month just last year.

http://www.news.com.au/national/aussie-firms-paying-inflated-price-to-have-halal...

I have an idea to make it equal though. Muslims pay for all other Australians grog bills and we will call it evens. What say you Gandalf fair exchange is no robbery!

Yadda wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 2:50pm:


COOOOON cheese, Vegemite.........ad nauseam http://www.halalchoices.com.au/

Does anyone know what this symbol is and where money from this organisation gets spent?



I would hate to think that any money I spent would end up funding rabbis sucking baby penis in some weird circumcision ritual.

True Colours wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 4:12pm:
I hate to break it to you my friend but god doesn't exist. The animals are at our mercy. Isn't it cruel. How about we at least kill them quickly and as humanely possible without the religious BS?