I am not going to comment on the merits of traditional slaughter v's halal apart from saying that as a vegetarian I have have an issue with slaughter, full stop.
However, the hyperventilating that is going on about some McDonald's store offering both halal and non-halal burgers is in my humble opinion ridiculous. The Muslim population in Australia is 2.2% based on the last census. Not a huge number but many of those Muslims centralise in various parts of the metro areas. Areas like Punchbowl and Bankstown in Western Sydney have reasonably large Muslim populations and therefore it would be silly for business to not offer food that this group prefers. Not to do so would be commercially naive and would also deprive children (in particular) of the 'delights' other Australian kids enjoy. In my opinion that would hardly be fair.
I suspect many of those who are most vocal about McDonald's, rarely, if ever frequent one of their outlets. But even if they did visit McDonald's in some areas in western Sydney, they have a choice. They are not being forced to eat halal food they can eat what they prefer and to me that seems fair. Unless of course people who complain believe Muslim's shouldn't have rights but that's a different debate.
On the other hand I do have a problem with the decision taken by KFC to remove bacon entirely from their menu choice (as I did with Qantas). Now, I've never been into a KFC store so to learn that they actually at some point served bacon was a surprise. However the total removal to cater for a small minority (who probably didn't even ask for the removal) to me smacks of blatant discrimination and should be condemned.
An article from last year on the subject: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/halal-food-dishing-out-change-in-our-fast-food-society/story-fnii5s41-1226647942182
