Australian cartoonist and political commentator, Paul Zanetti, has written an extraordinary article, The End of Private Halal Certification in Australia, in which he summarises how the major meat producers of Australia are calling for the government to regulate the halal certification industry in Australia.
He rightly praises the work of Kirallie Smith, without whom the enquiry into halal certification would never have happened.
If we can add one thing, it is clear that concern about halal certification has been well and truly mainstreamed. The “progressives” who try to maintain that it is only those on the fringes of politics who are concerned about halal certification, are themselves on the fringe.
The following paragraph of Zanetti’s, and his conclusion, is The XYZ Quote of the Day:
“With the industry calling for reform and for one government halal certification body, with consumers also calling for reform – and for choice, with activists calling for boycotts until they have confidence that their grocery monies are not funding religious causes, with a senate inquiry hearing Islamic certifiers agreeing that the system needs to be overhauled, there will be only one outcome – the government will oversee all halal certification.”
The XYZ has been steadfast in its opposition to government regulation of private industry. However, just this once, we are prepared to make an exception.
It’s your XYZ.