Australian murderer loses bid to eat Vegemite in prison
Andre McKechnie, who murdered a property developer, argued it was his right to enjoy Australian culture.
**Australian murderer loses bid to eat Vegemite in prison**
A convicted murderer serving a life sentence in Australia has failed in his attempt to overturn a ban on prisoners eating Vegemite - the salty yeast-based spread that has become a national symbol.
Andre McKechnie said the ban, which has been in force since 2006, deprived him of the right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian".
Officials in the state of Victoria say inmates could use the pungent paste to hide contraband substances or to make alcohol behind bars.
On Monday, a Supreme Court judge dismissed 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 case against Victoria's Department of Justice and Corrections, the agency that runs the state's prisons, McKechnie, 54, argued that the ban on the spread violated laws requiring prisons to provide food that enables inmates to maintain their health and well-being, but the judge said that had not been established.
McKechnie received a life sentence for stabbing a property developer to death in Queensland in the 1990s. He served part of that sentence in Queensland before being moved to Victoria.
At the hearing, the court heard evidence from Corrections Victoria that the smell of Vegemite can distract sniffer dogs that are trying to detect drugs being brought into prison.
The product is also banned in prisons in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.
For some, Vegemite is a beloved breakfast spread, but it has also gained controversial fame since it first appeared on Australian shop shelves in 1923.
The thick, brown spread was created in Melbourne, the Victorian capital, more than a century ago as an alternative to the British spread Marmite.
It triggered an international dispute in April last year when an Australian cafe owner in Canada was told to take jars of the condiment off his shelves because it did not meet local health regulations.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stepped into the dispute, saying it was "rather odd" that Canada permitted the sale of Vegemite's "rubbish" rival product Marmite. The cafe owner was later allowed to keep selling the spread.