Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I concur, Mr Acting Deputy President. I was recently reading the Australian government's response to the report of the inquiry by the Senate Economics References Committee into the third-party certification of food. The response has been nearly two years in the making and basically says that the committee was an excellent committee, that it reached some very reasonable conclusions and that the government is still considering how to implement those conclusions. But I was drawn to one particular part of it, which said:

… the Government … will also consider amendments to the Export Control (Meat and Meat Products) Orders 2005 to strengthen oversight and monitoring of halal certification for export, which will also include an option for the Government to be the sole signatory on halal certificates for export—

in essence, a government-led halal certification system. This is because halal certification is ridded with scams and rorts. It is an additional tariff, if you will, to get access to particular markets.

People will have different views about that, but one of the things it reminded me of is perhaps one of the vilest and grubbiest individuals that I've ever had the fortune to have never met. This is a bloke named Mohamed El-Mouelhy. Mr El-Mouelhy boasts openly that he is one of Australia's multimillionaire halal certifiers. He taunts people regularly about how much money he makes and how he certifies water and everything else. In effect, this bloke is ripping off Australians. He is a scammer. I believe he is a crook, and I will tell you exactly why I'm saying that. I know he is a serial liar. I know he is a person who is of poor character, and he is a notorious bigot.

I say those things—I've said them on radio; I've said them out in the public sphere—because this is a man who has admitted to bribing people through his halal certification fees. He is a man who admits to supplying money to an Islamic charity which was demonstrated links to Hamas and Hezbollah, proscribed organisations. He proudly boasts about the quantum of money he gives them. He has admitted, in public, to effectively ripping off the Australian taxpayer through halal certification. He has blatantly lied, repeatedly, about me and many others. This is, perhaps, one of the worst examples of our immigration program in the history of this country, and I don't say that lightly. This is a bloke who came here in 1975, became an Australian citizen in 1981 and has been basically ripping us off ever since.

In recent times this scammer teamed up with a bunch of other colourful characters to launch a coup, as it was described in the media, to take over a crooked organisation called AFIC, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. When they appeared before the halal certification inquiry they were unable to explain: their own books, how they were a not-for-profit making profit out of halal certification, where the money went and what happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars they took over. These are people that are in charge of those dodgy Malek Fahd schools, which the government has had to shut down multiple times, because these people are ripping stuff out of the system.

One bunch of crooks thought the other bunch of crooks weren't doing a bad enough job, so they went to take it over. The courts, having to decide between two crooked outfits, decided to put the first bunch of crooks back. Mr El-Mouelhy was out of another angle of a scam. But, because he didn't want to be dissuaded from being in the public eye, Mr El-Mouelhy decided to double-down on his stupidity. He thought that he would set a new standard in idiocy. I am basing this on his own standards. This is a new level of idiocy. This is a man who is not very bright, judging by his Facebook photos and judging by what he puts on Facebook, because he describes himself as a halal chief and boasts about billions of dollars' worth of exports that he has generated for Australia, but he also says that Australian women need Muslim men to fertilise them. Can you believe that? He wrote that on his Facebook page:

…Australian women need us—

Muslim men

…to fertilise them to keep them surrounded by Muslim babies—

while declaring

…the white race will be extinct in 40 years.

This is a self-proclaimed giant of the halal certification industry. He's a crook and he's an idiot, but what sort of a place is it when we have clowns like this setting themselves up as representatives of the Muslim community?

As I said, Mr El-Mouelhy is not very bright. He can't be very bright, but he knows how to run a good scam. His vision of Australia is:

It will be mandatory for all women to wear hijab or burka.

That's Mr El-Mouelhy vision for the future: where everything in Australia will be halal certified. But he doesn't stop there. He says:

When that happens everything in Australia will be Halal certified. Bigots and pigs will be declared Haram—

which is—Senator Dastyari, can you help me?

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is that through the chair?

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Haram is forbidden in Arabic, is that right? Haram and halal. Halal is permitted and haram is forbidden.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're the expert on Islam, mate.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He says everything:

…will be declared Haram and must not be approached or touched, they can live together in reserves.

So he's going to put all the things that aren't permitted under Islamic law into a reserve.

There will be a Halal butcher on every corner, all other butchers will be offered to convert to Halal or given a passage back to where their ancestors came from.

This is a bloke who boasts about making billions of dollars under the Australian way of life, who admits that he's a briber, who admits he funds an outfit which is linked to Hamas and Hezbollah, who tried to take over a crooked outfit but was ousted because he is too big a crook and now he is boasting he wants to take over the country. He says:

Mr Dutton—

referring to the immigration minister

…will be exiled on Manus Island never to set foot in Australia again. Mosques will be everywhere—

This is a vision of paradise, isn't it?

Mosques will be everywhere, and the religious police will make sure all businesses are closed at the time of prayers. The call to prayer will be announced from loud speakers at dawn every day to make sure the lazy good for nothing dole bludgers can start looking for jobs early.

And then on and on he goes.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's called satire, mate!

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note Senator Dastyari saying, 'It's satire'. The problem is that everything Mr El-Mouelhy says is inextricably linked to one of the most vile characters that you could ever imagine in the business community. We don't accept people doing the wrong thing in business, and yet this is a bloke who proudly does it. This is a bloke who says that Australian women will be desperate for Muslim men to fertilise them so that they can have Muslim babies everywhere. And you think that's satire? You think that's acceptable, Senator Dastyari, from a Muslim community leader that apparently many in the Muslim community look up to, because they want to link with him to take over AFIC? This is a guy who wouldn't even attend the inquiry that Senator Dastyari chaired, because he was afraid of being exposed under parliamentary privilege as being a scammer and a rorter. He is a disgrace.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Say this outside the chamber.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left!

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You know, Senator Dastyari, Mr Acting Deputy President, I have said this on radio. I've had a debate with Mr El-Mouelhy on radio, where he told me to 'die in my rage', which is an ISIS saying. I know that Senator Dastyari, through his interjections, wants to defend Mr El-Mouelhy, but he's absolutely wrong. Mr El-Mouelhy doesn't deny what he said; he doesn't deny that he told me to 'die in my rage', consistent with what ISIS says. He doesn't deny that he's bribed people; he admits it. He doesn't deny that he's funded HAIA, which funds Hezbollah and Hamas. He doesn't deny that he wants everyone to be paying his halal scam and his rorts. None of this is denied. He is a crook, a flat out crook, and I cannot believe he is being defended by Senator Dastyari.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Be brave; say this outside the chamber!

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The fact is that this bloke is afforded respect by sections of the community, and that is absolutely outrageous. It is time we stopped putting up with this type of person in this country. This is appalling. We need to call him out, and if he will not stop and cease and desist in this space then I will continue to call him out in the Senate.