A Senate inquiry into third-party certification of food has heard there is no direct link between halal certification and Islamic terrorism.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 37 seconds 4 m 37 s No direct link between halal and financing terrorism: Crime Commission Download 8.5 MB

The evidence was given by both the Australian Crime Commission and Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the nation's anti-money laundering intelligence agency, at the inquiry's second hearing on Thursday morning in Sydney.

It is a common thread in the anti-halal movement to allege links between certification and terrorist organisations, but intelligence and law enforcement agencies in Australia do not think it is the case.

Angela Jamieson is the national manager of compliance at AUSTRAC, which monitors the flow of money into and out of the country, flagging suspicious transactions and financial activity.

"Of the information identified from this monitoring of reported financial transactions, none of these have been assessed as related to funding of terrorism with regard to halal certification fees," Ms Jamieson said.

Senator Cory Bernardi, who is on the committee, asked if the reason why AUSTRAC had come up with no evidence was because they were not looking at halal certifiers.

"The answer to that is 'no'," Craig Robertson, AUSTRAC's acting national manager of intelligence, said.

"We're not looking specifically at the use of those funds on the basis that I guess a third party outside of AUSTRAC hasn't been able to refer us information that provides evidence to look at it, and our own detection and monitoring systems of what we know about how terrorism financing occurs has not surfaced that information."

The Australian Crime Commission gave similar evidence to the inquiry.

"We have found links between money laundering, terrorism and serious and organised crime but we haven't found any direct links between halal certification and the funding of terrorism," said Hamish Hansford, the ACC's national manager of strategic intelligence and strategy.

"Since this issue has been highlighted in the press, we've been on a heightened lookout for any links between halal certification in our intelligence holdings and to date we have not found any direct linkages."

'Where does the money go?'

Kirralie Smith is the founder and director of the group Halal Choices, and is a prominent campaigner against halal certification.

She appeared before the Senate inquiry to give supporting evidence about her 200-page written submission.

"Consumers are concerned about animal rights issues, revenue raising for the promotion of Islam, the imposition of Islamic religious rituals without knowledge or consent as well as the question 'where does the money go?'," she said.

"It is my sincere hope that this committee will take these genuine concerns of Australian consumers very seriously."

In her written submission, Ms Smith said there have been proven links in the USA, Canada and France between halal certification organisations, Islamic charities and terrorist organisations.

She said that it is therefore reasonable that these links are thoroughly investigated here in Australia.

This is the second hearing into third-party certification of food, and so far no halal certifier has appeared to give evidence.

It was unlikely that one would appear today, as today is Eid Al Adha, one of the most sacred days on the Islamic calendar.

The ABC has been told that halal certifiers and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils will be asked to appear at a third hearing in October.