Australian murderer loses court bid to overturn Vegemite ban in Victoria prisons

Mixed · 2A Supreme Court judge in Victoria, Australia, on Monday rejected an appeal by prisoner Andre McKechnie, 54, to overturn a ban on inmates having Vegemite. 1 2 Centre · 1McKechnie argued the ban, in place since 2006, denied him the right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian". 1 Mixed · 2The judge said his "cultural rights are limited primarily by the fact he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment". 1 2

Centre · 1In his lawsuit against Victoria's Department of Justice and Corrections, McKechnie also said the ban breached a law requiring prisons to provide food that lets inmates maintain their health and well-being; the judge said that had not been proven. 1 Mixed · 2McKechnie is serving a life sentence for stabbing a property developer to death in Queensland in the 1990s, and served part of it there before transfer to Victoria. 1 2 Mixed · 2Victorian authorities say inmates may use the paste to disguise contraband or brew alcohol, and Corrections Victoria told the court its smell can distract sniffer dogs searching for drugs. 1 2

Mixed · 2Vegemite is also banned in jails in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. 1 2 Left · 1Metro adds that the brewing claim is doubtful scientifically, since the yeast is spent and heated during production, and that smell is the more likely reason for restrictions; it notes UK jails have no blanket Marmite ban. 2 Centre · 1Vegemite, invented in Melbourne and first sold in 1923, is regarded as a national symbol; the BBC recalls a 2025 Canadian import dispute in which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened. 1