A convicted murderer serving a life sentence in Australia has lost his bid to overturn a ban on prisoners consuming Vegemite – the salty yeast-based spread that has become a national symbol.
Andre McKechnie argued that the ban, in place since 2006, denied him the right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian”.
Authorities in the state of Victoria say inmates may use the strong-smelling paste to disguise contraband substances or to brew alcohol behind bars.
And on Monday, a Supreme Court judge rejected McKechnie’s appeal, saying the prisoner’s “cultural rights are limited primarily by the fact he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment”.
In his lawsuit against Victoria’s Department of Justice and Corrections, the agency which manages the state’s prisons, McKechnie, 54, said the ban on the spread breached law requiring prisons to provide food that allowed inmates to maintain their health and well-being but the judge said that had not been proven.
McKechnie was handed a life sentence for stabbing a property developer to death in Queensland in the 1990s. He served part of his sentence in Queensland before being transferred to Victoria.
During the hearing, the court heard evidence from Corrections Victoria that the smell of vegemite can distract sniffer dogs trying to detect drugs being brought into prison.
The product is also banned in jails in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.
A much-loved breakfast spread for some, Vegemite has acquired controversial accolades since it first hit shop shelves in Australia in 1923.
The thick, brown spread was invented in the Victorian capital of Melbourne more than a century ago as an alternative to the British spread Marmite.
It sparked an international dispute in April last year when an Australian cafe owner in Canada was told to remove jars of the condiment from his shelves as it did not comply with local health regulations.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened in the row, saying it was “rather odd” that Canada allowed the sale of Vegemite’s “rubbish” rival product Marmite. The cafe owner was later allowed to continue selling the spread.
