Australian prisoner sues for right to eat Vegemite spread in jail

A convicted murderer is challenging the southern Australian state of Victoria's ban on prisoners eating the Vegemite yeast-based spread, arguing that the restriction breaches his human right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian." 

Andre McKechnie is suing Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety and the agency that manages the prisons, Corrections Victoria, in a case currently scheduled to be heard in 2026. 

The 54-year-old is seeking a court declaration of his human rights being infringed and saying the agency breached the Corrections Act by "failing to provide food adequate to maintain" his "well-being." 

Vegemite labeled contraband in Victoria jails since 2006

McKechnie argues the court should overturn a 2006 decision to ban Vegemite from Victoria prisons. 

Corrections Victoria says that the polarizing brown spread and its powerful flavor and aroma "interferes with narcotic detection dogs." 

Inmates would smear packages containing illicit drugs with the spread in a bid to put dogs off the scent. 

Vegemite can also be used to make home-brewed alcohol, if combined with water, sugar and a more plentiful yeast source, according to the contraband list. The spread is made with leftover brewery yeast.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety and Corrections has not commented on the case, maintaining a typical government agency approach to issues headed to the courts. 

John Herron, a lawyer and victims of crime advocate, whose daughter was beaten to death in a Melbourne park in 2019, said it was a frivolous lawsuit that was offensive to victims' families. 

"It's not a case of Vegemite or Nutella or whatever it may be. It's an extra perk that is rubbing our faces in the tragedy that we've suffered," Herron said.

Interwar creation to mitigate Marmite shortages down under

Supplies of a similar breakfast spread made in the UK, Marmite, were limited in Australia in the aftermath of World War I.

By 1923, a chemist at the Fred Walker Company in Melbourne, Cyril Calister, launched Vegemite as a homegrown alternative. 

Vegemite's popularity grew in Australia during World War II when it was part of standard-issue rations for soldiers.

It's very well suited to a soldier's needs, with an almost indefinite shelf life at room temperature, as well as being rich in B vitamins, sodium and iron. Similarly, it's been marketed as a healthy food for children.

Nevertheless, it is something of an acquired taste and its powerful punch can be offputting at first, as famously evidenced by Barack Obama the last time a US president visited Australia, when he declared "it's horrible." Its progenitor product Marmite has long been marketed under the slogan, "you either love it or hate it." 

Litigious inmate returned to a cell after eight years on parole

McKechnie was convicted of murder in 1994 for stabbing wealthy property developer Otto Kuhne in the state of Queensland as a 23-year-old. He was later transferred to the Victoria prisons system.

He is currently being held at the maximum-security Port Phillip Prison, on Phillip Island, just to the south of Melbourne. 

He wrote last year that after serving the minimum possible jail term for a person convicted to life in prison for murder in Queensland, he spent eight years on parole before returning to a cell just over a decade ago, a move he phrased as personal choice.

"The Victorian parole system without a doubt had done more damage than good, not only to my life, but also to the lives of the people around me," he wrote. 

He noted at the time that he was also litigating against Australian authorities in several cases for its attempts "to 'encourage' me to take parole," which he said were intimidating in nature.