This week features the first hearing of what has come to be known as the ‘halal’ inquiry. In reality it is a Senate inquiry into food certification schemes but, based on the submissions received, the majority of public interest is in relation to halal certification.
The committee secretary has received around 1300 submissions which are in the process of being approved for publication. This is an extraordinary number for any inquiry and suggests a high level of public interest.
I hope the inquiry will provide some detailed evidence about the certification schemes running in this country. There are a lot of statements made by a variety of people that have proven very difficult to verify. My goal is to sort the facts from the fiction in relation to cost, process, necessity and value.
Like many Australians, I am also interested in how the funds from these certification schemes are utilised.
The first hearing kicks off on Friday in Canberra.
This week has also seen a concerted attack by the Labor Party on the integrity of one of our finest judicial officers – former Justice Dyson Heydon.
Justice Heydon is the royal commissioner looking into rorts and corruption in the union movement. The process has exposed plenty of rotten apples, so much so that one can be excused for tainting some entire unions with the same brush.
Now Labor is running a protection racket for their major stakeholders by attacking the commissioner because he agreed to speak at an annual event which was later found to be a Liberal Party function. Justice Heydon withdrew from the engagement.
Labor is planning to lobby the Governor-General to dismiss Justice Heydon. Personally, I think this is a disgraceful move in seeking to inveigle the highest office in the land in their political manoeuvring.
Ultimately, these stunts demonstrate that Labor care more for political advantage and union power than the institutions and officers of our land.
Why else would they run such a campaign against a man of the highest integrity and then seek to involve the office of the Governor General?
It demonstrates just how desperate and power hungry the modern Labor movement has become. One can only imagine what they would do if they ever got back into government.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
