"To be frank, I find it outrageous that some of my grocery spending could go to propagating a religion," Mr Christensen said in a blog post. Vegemite has been Halal-certified. "I don't know whether my grocery spend is going to fund extremist versions of that religion or extremist religious activities that I would rather not see in Australia." While the initial comments of his blog were supportive, on social media they were mostly met with derision, where some users suggested they did not want their tax money going towards funding Tony Abbott's religious chaplains program either. Two weeks ago, South Australian dairy producer Fleurieu Milk and Yoghurt Company was forced drop its halal certification after receiving threats on social media.

As a consequence, it's believed the company lost a $50,000 contact with Emirates. Mr Christensen said the lack of information about halal certification was causing confusion and concern about where the money spent on it was going. "While it's not terrorism, there is no doubt that halal certification is funding organisations with extremist views and activities in Australia. [The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils], which is responsible for halal-certifying Vegemite, have publicly advocated for sharia to play a role in family law determinations. "It's well-known that halal certifiers contribute to Islamic charity groups," Mr Christensen wrote, citing an Australian Institute of Criminology report on US charities. "Direct links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood were found. The same thing has occurred in Canada and France. It's entirely feasible to consider that the same thing might be happening here because we simply don't know where the money is going."

A number of organisations in Australia certify food products for domestic sale and export that meet halal guidelines - Islamic rules regarding the source and preparation of food that are set out in the Koran. Many Australian companies that export to the Middle East have been halal-certified for years, including Kellogg's cereals and many meat exporters. Halal Australia, a company that certifies halal food, flatly denies supporting terrorism, in a post on its website. "The service fees paid to Halal Australia for halal certification and accreditation are used to maintain the normal costs of running a registered business in Australia. "Halal certification profits DO NOT go towards supporting any terrorist activities or violent politically motivated religious organisations.

"Nor do we have anything to do with any organisation or group anywhere in the world that incites violence and are not aligned with our values of freedom, egalitarianism, equality of opportunity, and mutual respect and tolerance." The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has been approached for comment. In September, Mr Christensen was the first Coalition MP to call for Islamic head coverings such as burqas to be banned from Parliament House. "We shouldn't tolerate sharia law in Aust and the burqa/niqab shouldn't be worn in public," he tweeted. In an interview with ABC journalists, Mr Christensen said his constituents raised concerns about the burqa often.

"People get worried when someone walks in and they can't see exactly who it is," he said. "It's not something that just to be sneered at as something that's not politically correct and we shouldn't be talking about it." Follow us on Twitter