Australian court tells prisoner there is no human right to Vegemite behind bars

As of 5:41 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026

A convicted murderer has lost his legal bid to overturn a ban on Vegemite in prisons in the Australian state of Victoria, after a judge found the prohibition on the yeast-based spread was justified, ABC News (Australia) and Australian Associated Press reported.

Andre McKechnie, who is held at Barwon Prison, argued that the ban was unlawful because it denied him his human right to enjoy Australian culture and because he needed Vegemite for his wellbeing, the ABC reported. Supreme Court Justice Claire Harris rejected the case in a judgment released Monday, Oct. 26, in Melbourne, which was Sunday evening in the eastern United States.

"Vegemite is a food that may be regarded as part of an Australian culture in that it is a food strongly and traditionally associated with people of Australian background," Harris wrote, according to the ABC. But she found the ban was a proportionate measure, AAP reported. "The specific refusal to permit Mr McKechnie to have access to Vegemite … is reasonable and demonstrably justified," she said, according to AAP.

Harris also found that McKechnie had failed to show the ban breached the state's Corrections Act, which requires prisons to provide food that maintains inmates' health and wellbeing, the ABC reported. She said the law did "not extend to an obligation to provide to prisoners foods of cultural significance to enhance their wellbeing," according to the ABC.

Why prisons ban it

Vegemite has been banned in Victorian prisons since about 2006, the ABC reported. Corrections Victoria argued that the spread could be used to make alcohol and could make it harder for sniffer dogs to detect contraband. "Any odour, such as Vegemite, which is pungent would distract a canine from detecting the illicit drugs they are trained to detect," Corrections Victoria manager Kevin White testified, according to the ABC.

McKechnie, who represented himself, told the court: "Without being able to consume Vegemite I feel deprived of being able to practice my Australian culture, sad and disconnected from my family and community," the ABC reported. Harris said it was "difficult to accept" that his sadness and isolation were caused by a lack of Vegemite rather than by his imprisonment, according to the ABC.

McKechnie is serving a life sentence for the stabbing murder of property developer Otto Kuhne in Queensland more than 30 years ago, AAP reported. Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania also ban Vegemite in prisons, while New South Wales allows it in its correctional centres, according to AAP. Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety welcomed the decision, the ABC reported.

What is not known

It is not known whether McKechnie plans to appeal. GROKsiNEWS.com did not read the judgment itself; quotations from it are as reported by the ABC and AAP.