Someone Trolled Pauline Hanson By Sending Her A Jar of Halal-Certified Vegemite

Merry Christmas, Pauline!

An enterprising Australian has sent a jar of Vegemite to Pauline Hanson, using Kmart’s custom name generator to slap the word “Halaal (sic)” on the label.

Why? No one knows, but it’s an A+ troll.

Hanson posted a grumpy looking photo on Twitter and included the hashtag “#funnybecauseitstrue”.

This Christmas gift just arrived in the mail. #auspol #halal #Vegemite #merrychristmas #funnybecauseitistrue pic.twitter.com/G2zJztUGdZ

— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) December 22, 2016

In a twist, Labor senator Sam Dastyari was sent a similar jar of Vegemite. He took to Facebook to ask his followers if they could help track down the Vegemite-sender.

The Vegemite sent to Dastyari was accompanied by a note that read:

“Hey Dasto, just to show I’m non-partisan, got you & Pauline the same gift. Had to use alternative spelling. Merry Christmas. Don’t forget pecuniary interests LOL.

The note confirms the same individual sent the both jars to both Hanson and Dastyari.

But why would someone to go all this effort? Well, there is some weird logic to it.

Vegemite is halal-certified and some anti-Islam campaigners, including Pauline Hanson, are very unhappy about it. Hanson and Dastyari had a notoriously weird exchange on Q&A earlier in the year when Hanson expressed surprise at the fact that Iranian-born Dastyari would have been banned from entering Australia under One Nation’s policies.

But why does the jar spell halal wrong? Turns out Vegemite doesn’t allow people to print “halal” on the jars, but “halaal” is fine.

@JoshButler @samdastyari You can order personalised VM jars from the Kmart website but they don’t allow Halal as a name.

— Nick Schadegg (@nickschadegg) December 22, 2016

Dasyari told Junkee that if he could track down the sender of the Vegemite he would propose the three of them (Dastyari, Hanson and the sender) catch up for some toast.

UPDATE: Junkee has tracked down the Vegemite sender. David Stone, a Queensland resident, confirmed he had sent both jars to Dastyari and Hanson.

When we asked Stone what motivated him he said: “Because she is making Vegemite a personal issue. No one attacks the so-called religious tax of Sanitarium’s Weet-Bix… but certified halal is somehow a problem.”

Sanitarium is owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“Air is halal. Doesn’t stop anyone. Further, it was an offer to personalise a jar. What better gift for people who personalise Vegemite?” Stone said.