Rabbi Moshe Gutnick says attacks on halal certification are based on prejudice, and similar claims about kosher would be labelled anti-Semitic.

His comments comes as controversial Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming claims he has ministerial support for a plan to reform halal labelling laws – a claim immediately denied by the minister responsible.

Mr Laming says halal certifiers are religious profiteers - an argument taken up by many anti-halal campaigners.

He has been working on a plann to give Australian businesses the power to self-certify their goods as halal  and claimed to have "secured ministerial support for".

But the claim was immediately rubbished by the office of Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash, who oversees food labelling. Her spokesman said the plan had never received approval from her office.

Mr Laming's spokeswoman then claimed "minister Nash is not the minister that Andrew has approached", but did not elaborate.

In a scathing article published in a local newspaper, Rabbi Gutnick, senior rabbi at the Kashrut Authority of Australia and NZ, said the anti-halal campaign was an attack on Australians' religious rights.

Reflecting on Yom Ha'Shoah, the day Jews commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, he wrote that he was inspired to speak out by those who risked their lives by protecting Jews from Nazi persecution.

"The current attack we are hearing against halal certification in Australia is wrong," Rabbi Gutnick writes.

"It is the product of prejudice and ignorance. If it was against kosher certification it would be labelled anti-Semitic. If anyone believes anyone is funding terrorism and breaking Australian law, let them go to the police with evidence and the police will  investigate it.

"All this has absolutely nothing to do with the legitimate rights of the Islamic community to practice their religion in Australia through the certification of food as being halal and has absolutely nothing to do with the rights of Australian manufacturers to seek halal certification for the foodstuffs in order to sell them to Muslims."

Mr Laming has worked on his plan for several months, promoting it on his website and Facebook page. Last month he told he followers the plan had "secured ministerial approval".

He told Fairfax Media halal certification made goods too expensive and was profiteering, although he conceded he did not have direct evidence of that.

"I have evidence that the charges are higher than kosher which is actually a more complicated process," he said.

"We have had some evidence presented to us and we have also had certifiers concede that it is not a cost recovery process. So I feel that the current system is effectively a profit-making exercise for faith based food certification."

Under Mr Laming's plan, food manufacturers selling on the domestic market would have the choice of obtaining halal certification from a religious body or being able to make a similar claim themselves.

"You should be able to make a claim that a food is suitable to a minority group without certification," he said.

But the Australian Food and Grocery Council says food businesses already have the ability to claim halal status for their products without getting religious certification.

"Domestically companies have these options now, including making an uncertified claim – they just need to be able to substantiate it if challenged," a spokesman said.

"There is also a lot of misinformation here in Australia about halal certification – and any initiative that helps clear that up would be welcome."