Murderer loses court fight over prison Vegemite ban

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 26 Oct, 10:57 · Archive

An Australian murderer serving a life sentence has lost his legal challenge to a ban on Vegemite in Victorian prisons.

Andre McKechnie, 54, who was handed a life sentence for stabbing a property developer to death in Queensland in the 1990s, took his case to Victoria's Supreme Court. He argued that the ban on Vegemite, in place since 2006, denied him the right to enjoy Australian culture and left him disconnected from his family and community. He also claimed the ban breached prison law requiring authorities to provide food that allows inmates to maintain their health and well-being.

Supreme Court judge Claire Harris rejected the challenge on Monday. She acknowledged that Vegemite is a food strongly and traditionally associated with Australian people but found that this cultural connection did not override the restrictions that came with imprisonment. The judge said McKechnie's "cultural rights are limited primarily by the fact he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment".

Victoria's Department of Justice and Corrections maintains that the spread is banned because its strong smell can distract sniffer dogs trying to detect drugs being brought into prison, and because it could be used to brew alcohol behind bars. The product is also banned in prisons in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. Vegemite, a thick yeast-based spread, was first produced in Melbourne in 1923 as an alternative to British Marmite and has become an Australian national symbol.

How it is being reported

• Australian killer told he has 'no cultural right to eat Vegemite' behind barsAndre McKechie claimed eating Vegemite was the "integral part of the practice of my Australian culture", but a Supreme Court judge rejected his appealThe Mirror · 26 Oct, 11:22
• Convicted murderer loses court battle over legal ‘right’ to eat VegemiteAndre McKechnie argued that he was unable to ‘practice my Australian culture’ because he couldn’t have Vegemite in prisonIndependent World · 26 Oct, 10:41
• Australian murderer loses bid to eat Vegemite in prisonAndre McKechnie, who murdered a property developer, argued it was his right to enjoy Australian culture.BBC News · 26 Oct, 04:05

In this story: Andre McKechnie · Victoria · Queensland · Department of Justice and Corrections

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