Judge rejects murderer's appeal for prison Vegemite

A Supreme Court judge in Victoria has rejected a life‑sentence prisoner's bid to eat Vegemite, ruling that his cultural rights are limited by imprisonment. Andre McKechnie argued the ban since 2006 breached laws requiring adequate food and denied him the right "to enjoy his culture as an Australian." The court found no infringement of those rights because the prohibition was proportionate to security needs. Corrections Victoria banned Vegemite in Victorian prisons after it could distract sniffer dogs or be used to brew alcohol due to its yeast content. McKechnie, who stabbed a property developer to death in Queensland in 1995 and now serves his sentence in Barwon Prison west of Melbourne, claimed the ban was unjustified compared with neighboring states that do not prohibit it.