Australian judge denies murderer’s bid to lift prison ban on Vegemite

A convicted murderer who argued in an Australian court that disallowing him access to the yeast-based spread Vegemite was a violation of his human rights has lost a legal battle seeking permission to consume the delicacy from prison.

Andre McKechnie, 55, who is serving a life sentence for murder in the southern Australian state of Victoria, took his battle for the black-brown byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court last year.

He argued that being refused Vegemite denied him his right under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act to “enjoy his culture as an Australian in the community with other persons of Australian background,” court documents viewed by the Associated Press showed.

Justice Claire Harris said prison authorities’ refusal to allow McKechnie Vegemite did limit his cultural rights under the legislation, but that the ban was justified as part of an attempt to eliminate illicit drugs and alcohol from the prison system.

“The limitation on Mr. McKechnie’s ability to enjoy Vegemite in community with other persons of Australian background is primarily that he is a prisoner,” she wrote in her judgment.

Vegemite has been banned at all of Victoria’s state prisons for 20 years because authorities say it could impair a sniffer dog’s ability to identify narcotics and that its yeast content could be used to brew alcohol.

McKechnie, who defended himself in court, argued that because the neighbouring state New South Wales does not ban Vegemite in state prisons, it was evidence that there were “less restrictive means reasonably available” to stop illicit substances from entering the system.

He went on to say that Vegemite does not interfere with sniffer dogs’ ability to detect narcotics by citing a 2017 Melbourne newspaper article reporting on a man’s failed attempt to use the pungent smell of the spread to conceal drugs he was attempting to smuggle into a music festival in Victoria. His efforts were marred by police dogs.

He also argued that Vegemite does not contain live yeast and therefore can not be used to concoct alcohol.

A state prison department manager, Kevin White, cited publicly available research that said Vegemite helped home-brewed beer ferment more quickly.

McKechnie had previously testified that a lack of Vegemite in his diet had contributed to his thiamine, or vitamin B1, deficiency.

He later dropped the thiamine argument and said it was “not important,” after lawyers for prison authorities objected to evidence of a deficiency.

McKechnie said that not eating Vegemite left him feeling “deprived” of his Australian culture, and that it made him “sad” and “disconnected” from his family and the wider community.

The judge said it was “difficult to accept that the inability to consume Vegemite, rather than the fact of his imprisonment, is a material cause of his sadness and disconnection from his family and community,” and upheld prison authorities’ argument that McKechnie had failed to provide any proper foundations for his opinion that Vegemite does not interfere with sniffer dogs.

Vegemite is a culinary staple in Australia, and more than 80 per cent of households are estimated to have a jar at home. It is generally considered an acquired taste. Variations of the spread are also extremely popular in New Zealand and in the U.K., where it is known as Marmite.

Vegemite, which was invented in Australia in the 1920s, began as an iteration of Marmite, which was created in the U.K. in the early 1900s and shipped to Australia, where its popularity soared.

Australian Vegemite was developed as its own product with a distinct flavour profile and is made using a recipe that is different from British Marmite, which has a sweeter, more syrupy texture. Vegemite tends to be more dense and bitter.

New Zealand Marmite is also distinct from its counterparts.

The last U.S. president to visit Australia, Barack Obama, once said Australian Vegemite was “horrible.”

–– With files from the Associated Press