Australia: Halal Show Bags Campaign Announced

images-1Volunteers of Q Society of Australia will hand out free shopping bags this Saturday 31st August, at selected supermarkets around the country. The bags, which state “Halal certification schemes fund mosques, madrassas and jihad,” are designed to generate discussion amongst Australian consumers.

While the re-usable shopping bags are free of charge, the imprint and info material in each bag alerts consumers that halal certification schemes are not free and have developed into a hidden Islamic goods and services tax.

Q Society’s spokesman Andrew Horwood points out: “Halal food itself is not of concern. Nearly all our food is naturally permissible to Muslims and observant Muslims can make food of unknown origin halal by proclaiming ‘bismillah’ over the food before eating. What is of concern for Australians are the recently invented certification schemes, designed to permeate the supply chain from feeding trough to super market shelf, including non-food goods and services.”

The show bags contain an educational video with references to Islamic scriptures and results of the research conducted by Kirralie Smith of HalalChoices.com.au, as well as a petition to parliament for mandatory labelling. The educational video will be launched on YouTube on the same day.

According to meat industry groups and research, two thirds of chicken and lamb meat and over half the beef sold in Australia now comes from Halal-certified suppliers. Most dairy products as well as other food and many non-food items are certified to sharia standards, but not always labelled.

Islamic organizations have estimated the value of the global halal certification market at USD 2.3 trillion in 2013, growing by 20% per year. No other religious group has imposed a similar tax-like scheme on the general public.

Q Society lobbies for a fair ’User Pays’ policy, clear labelling and against discrimination against non-Muslims and women at certain Australian workplaces, where now only Muslim males are permitted to work.

Australians should not have to pay an ‘Islamic Tax’ for Halal or be coerced to fund the Islamisation of Australia.

About Q Society of Australia Inc

Q Society is the leading Islam-critical civil rights movement in Australia. The not-for profit group was incorporated as Q Society of Australia Inc in 2010 by volunteers from all walks of life. The aim of the society is  to provide Australians with an independent and critical view on Islam, leading to a more balanced public discussion, and to policies with the interest of the majority of Australians at heart.

Kirralie Smith is the founder and director of HalalChoices. What started as an attempt to put together a shopping list for her family, resulted in two years of research into Halal-certification schemes in Australia and the most comprehensive halal shopping guide in Australia.