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Last Updated: Jun 25th, 2007 - 17:07:26 |
World Halal Forum – Industry Dialog – Melbourne
18th September 2006
Event summary
The WHF ID Melbourne was a one day event that was held in conjunction with the 1st Australian Trade 2006, at the Royal Exhibition Hall in Melbourne on the 18th of September.
The event was attended by 55 decision makers from many sectors. Designed to address to key areas of concern for the Halal Industry in Australia namely:
• Certification and Audit
• Meat Industry
From the last World Halal Forum in May, it was clear that the Australian Meat Industry had made major improvements internally to ensure that Halal integrity was taken more seriously.
The efforts which included the registration of Muslim Slaughtermen, an accreditation program for certification agencies under the federal governments AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service) and a customer requirement approach to Halal Standards.
These efforts were highlighted through out the day. If implemented successfully it could be used as a role model for other countries to adopt.
Australia's Halal System is based on the Australian Standard and the Australian Government Supervised Muslim Slaughter program (AGSMS). The AGSMS provides a single Halal Standard and takes into account animal welfare through to processing and product integrity that includes:
- NLIS and NVD
- Slaughtering
- Competency/Training
All islamic certifiers must be accredited under AQIS and will be subject to audit by AQIS.
AFIC has positioned itself as the leading certification agency in the country, they also have a wider social agenda that includes the development of Muslims in the Australian context. As with many non-Muslim countries the certification bodies fight amongst themselves for market share.
Dr Rahim Ghouse of MCCA spoke of the opportunities of attracting of FDI into the country especially into Halal industry. One key area would be looking at the Middle East for a source of venture capital
It is also clear that the role of animal rights in Australia will play a role in the development of the Halal Industry, it was therefore proposed that a charter of animal rights be drafted Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury, will play a leading role.
Panel speakers included the following:
- Richard Dilla Riva, MP Victoria, Shadow Minister for Trade and Export
- Abdul Rahim Saleh, Director of Assets Management and Community Affair, Islamic Religious Council of Singapore
- Dato’ Aidit Ghazali, Executive Chairman / Principal Consultant, Akademi Aidit Sdn Bhd
- Jon Hayes, Chairman of Halal Committee of Australia Meat Industry Council, Australia Meat Industry Council (AMIC)
- David Jones, Marketing Services Manager - EPMS, Meat & Livestock Australia Ltd (MLA)
- Muhammad A Rahman, Halal Coordinator, The Australia Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC)
- Che Hassan Pahmi Haji Che Mat, Director of Halal Hub Division, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM)
- Br. Tawfique Chowdhury, Director of Al-Kauthar, Al-Kauthar Institute
- Dr Rahim Ghouse, General Manager, Muslim Community Co-operative Australia Ltd
- Nordin Abdullah, Executive Director, KasehDia, World Halal Forum, Halal Journal
- AbdalHamid Evans, Director of Research and Intelligence, KasehDia, World Halal Forum, Halal Journal
- Jumaatun Azmi, Managing Director and Editor, KasehDia, World Halal Forum, Halal Journal
Extracts from Speeches
Richard Dilla Riva, Shadow Minister for Trade and Export
"This is crucial for Australia in the delivery of and understanding of the importance of Halal. There is an estimated 2 billion Muslims across the globe with the Halal food market internationally worth hundreds of billions of US dollars each year - and with the Muslim population now making one quarter of the world’s population, the market opportunities are outstanding."
"It is well known that Australia has tremendous strengths in manufacturing, agriculture and services. These are built on a foundation of an efficient transport system, a high quality education sector and skills base, cheap power supply and a strong multicultural community. These advantages are not without some level of current pressure - the strong Australian dollar and the increased flood of low price products from Asia and other competitors are pushing our economic drivers in manufacturing and agricultural industries.
"In addition, our advantages in service industries are under immense challenges as schools and universities in South-East Asia who produce more graduates of increasing quality and quantity to service their booming economies.
"AusTrade, the arm of the Federal Government, provides much of the connections between overseas trade and Australian businesses – there are about 500 “off-shore” staff who are capable of developing those relationships.
"I think it is also important to acknowledge the work of our Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Federal Minister for Trade, The Hon Mark Vaile MP, who has asked that I pass on his best wishes for this Industry Dialogue.
"We know the work the Federal Government undertakes to ensure the acceptance of the Halal protocol with Malaysia which was established in May 2006, this protocol outlined Malaysia’s requirements for meat exports in accordance with Halal guidelines.
"Malaysia has accredited three (3) Australian beef slaughter establishments to resume meat export to Australia and Mr. Vaile would like to see Malaysia being encouraged to accredit more Australian establishments that apply to Halal.
"It is anticipated that, in the future, AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service) expects to provide to Australia a list of additional Australian abattoirs for their consideration.
"There are great opportunities for Australian beef exports into the Malaysian market, in particular, there is much work to be done in this area if we are to progress Halal trade. To give you some idea, Australia’s beef exports to Australia in 2005 were around 12,300 tonnes. In the United States, Australia exported 388,000 tonnes and to Japan, the figure was an astounding 450,000 tonnes.
"That is why Mr Vaile was very happy with the extensive co-operation between AQIS and the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Veterinary Services, in particular, with the visit by the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr McGauran, who met the Malaysian Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based industry, Tan Sri Haji Muhyiddin, in Kuala Lumpur on 19 August to discuss the issue.
"What I think as the immediate challenge facing the Halal business community is to establish some level of certification benchmarking which provides consistency, uniformity and certainty for all involved."
Nordin Abdullah
World Halal Forum
"Internationally, Australia plays an important role in the global Halal Market as a leading food producer and a leader in Quality. In the next few hours we will examine the situation and look at ways to further strengthen that role.
"Locally, the importance of the Halal industry is perhaps understated, it provides thousands of jobs and accounts for millions in export earnings. The development of the Halal Industry can also be used as a catalyst for the development of the Muslim minorities and to further the governments’ efforts to integrate people both economically and socially.
"Likewise, it also important that Muslims take their place in the Halal industry, Muslims in Australia need to equip themselves with the skills and education that will be beneficial to the Halal industry, the community and ultimately themselves.
"As a country, Australia needs to continue to leverage off these groups to gain market share in an ever competitive business environment and to bring further credibility internationally, to Australia commitment to Halal."
Australia update
Victoria State government's Incentives for the Development of the Halal Industry:
• committed to doubling funding to $8M Australian of the “opening doors to export” (ODE) programmes over four years for export related activities.
• committed $500,000 Australian in the first year to maximise opportunities in promoting Victorian industries internationally at the Australian-held APEC Forum in 2007;
• committed $1M Australian to participate in promoting Victorian industry internationally at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo;
• committed $500,000 Australian over the first 2 years to develop comprehensive briefing packages for exporters on the opportunities arising from the new free trade agreements between Australia and Singapore, Thailand and the United States;
• supported the Federal Government in its pursuit of free trade agreements with China, India, Malaysia, the United Arab Republic and the Asean Nations and committing to continuing $25M Australia on base level funding for “Agenda for New Manufacturing” (ANM) programmes over four years.
• 450,000 Muslims living in Australia with this expected to increase and we have a strong interest from the
• tourists and students arriving each year from Muslim countries make up approximately 30,000
*Source – speech from Richard Dilla Riva
Other interesting facts about Australia:
• All sheep in Australia are Halal slaughtered
• 28% of Sheep exports are to the Middle East and Africa
• 6% of Sheep exports are the South East Asia
• Export focused to more than 120 countries
• Supplying Muslim countries more 35 years
• Australia is amongst largest red meat exports in the world
*Source – Meat and Livestock Australia
Resolutions
1. To draw up the formulation of the Islamic Charter for Animal Welfare based on the Shariah as a guide, to be tabled at the WHF in May 07
2. Invite Australian participation in the ongoing Halal Science projects being undertaken by Thailand and Malaysia.
3. To invite Australia to make a presentation to the World Halal Forum ’07 on the recent developments in the Australian Halal industry
4. To request the Australian Halal meat sector to apply the same standards for the domestic market as they do for the export market.
5. For more training to be conducted, possibly under the auspices of AFIC, to develop the human resource potential within the Muslim community to contribute to the Halal industry.
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