Oops! Pauline Hanson caught drinking (allegedly) halal milk

SKETCH

• Federal election 2016: News, analysis, video

There's only one way to put this. We're going to have to ask you to please explain, Pauline.

Pauline Hanson, Senator-elect for Queensland and fierce opponent of halal food, has been caught out drinking (allegedly) halal-certified milk, despite saying she doesn't "believe" in halal certification, and citing the vaguely-sourced statistic that "98 per cent of Australians" also oppose it.

Pauline Hanson is selling her Gold Coast apartment Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

The milk melee began on Monday when Ms Hanson posted to her Facebook account a video of herself making a cup of tea.

It was innocent enough, and certainly a highly Australian sort of activity. Or it was, until an eagle-eyed social media user reportedly pointed out Hanson appeared to be milking her tea with Coles-brand milk. Ms Hanson has previously slammed the big supermarkets for not supporting dairy farmers.

In response to this mischievous story, Ms Hanson posted on her Facebook page a picture of two milk bottles on her kitchen bench.

"It must be a slow news morning for some outlets," she wrote snippily. (It wasn't really, Pauline, but we appreciate the concern).

"I woke up this morning to find claims I support Coles milk.

"I thought these people without lives might like to see what's in the fridge today."

And there they were – the milk bottles. Neither, it must be noted, was from Coles. One of the bottles was from Maleny Dairies, an innocent, laudable local choice for a Queenslander.

But the other was Farmhouse Gold – a milk made by Pauls.

It is listed on the website halalchoices.com, run by Kirralie Smith of the right-wing Australian Liberty Alliance, as being fully halal-certified.

A phone call has been put into Pauls to independently verify the milk's halal-ness, but at this stage it seems a possibility Ms Hanson has inadvertently been drinking the same sort of milk as Australian Muslims.

On election night, Labor senator Sam Dastyari, speaking on Channel Seven, welcomed Ms Hanson to the Senate and invited her on a visit to western Sydney for a halal "snack pack".

"It's not happening, not interested in halal, thank you," she snapped, waggling her finger in the air.

"I'm not interested in it. I don't believe in halal certification."

But now it's right there in her fridge, we imagine her incredulity will vanish.

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