A Supreme Court of Victoria judge has rejected convicted murderer Andre McKechnie’s challenge to the ban on Vegemite in Victoria’s prisons, finding that although Vegemite may be part of Australian culture, the limit on his cultural rights is reasonable.
Justice Claire Harris dismissed the bid in a judgment released on Monday 26 October, the ABC reported. The judgment runs to 50 pages, according to The West Australian. “Mr McKechnie has failed to establish any of the grounds of judicial review,” Justice Harris found, the paper reported.
The Case He Brought
McKechnie, 54, is a life-sentence prisoner held at Barwon Prison, according to the BBC and the ABC. He sued Victoria’s justice department, the BBC reported, and represented himself, according to the ABC.
He argued that the ban denied his human right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian”, the BBC reported, and that it breached the duty in the Corrections Act to provide food that maintains prisoners’ health and wellbeing.
In his submission, he wrote: “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.”
Why Prisons Ban It
Vegemite has been banned in Victorian prisons since about 2006, the ABC reported. Corrections Victoria argued in court that it could be used to make alcohol and could impair sniffer dogs.
Kevin White, a Corrections Victoria manager, gave evidence about detection dogs and home-brew. “Any odour, such as Vegemite, which is pungent would distract a canine from detecting the illicit drugs they are trained to detect,” he told the court, according to the ABC.
The Judge’s Reasons
Justice Harris accepted that the spread carries cultural weight. “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,” she wrote.
She found that the restriction came from his sentence rather than from the ban: “Mr McKechnie’s cultural rights are limited primarily by the fact that he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment.” She also found it “difficult to accept” that his sadness and isolation came from a lack of Vegemite rather than from imprisonment, and pointed to other ways he could engage with Australian culture, such as local music, books and permitted food, the ABC reported.
On the Corrections Act, the judge found the law did “not extend to an obligation to provide to prisoners foods of cultural significance to enhance their wellbeing”.
Doubts About the Security Case
Criminologist Dr Nathan Ryan, of the Australian Catholic University, questioned the security rationale. “The sniffer dogs detect traces of things in the parts per trillion. It would be very unlikely Vegemite would be able to mask contraband,” he told the ABC.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety welcomed the decision, the ABC reported. A spokesperson said the safety of staff and prisoners was the department’s top priority, and that approved and prohibited items would continue to be managed for operational and security reasons.
A Spread Behind Bars
Victoria is not alone. Vegemite is banned in prisons in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, while some prisoners in New South Wales can buy it, according to the ABC.
Vegemite was invented in Melbourne and first sold in 1923, the BBC reported. McKechnie was sentenced to life by the Queensland Supreme Court for a 1994 murder and was later transferred to Victoria, according to the ABC, which noted that outlets including the BBC and The New York Times covered his challenge earlier in 2026.
More court reporting is in our Crime & Courts section.
Sources: ABC News, “Prisoner fails in court bid to overturn ban on Vegemite in Victorian prisons”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/vic-vegemite-prison-court-ruling/107308582); BBC News, “Australian murderer loses bid to eat Vegemite in prison”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvwy7wz9x12go); The West Australian, “Convicted murderer Andre McKechnie loses legal war over Vegemite ban”, 26 October 2026 (https://thewest.com.au/lifestyle/convicted-murderer-andre-mckechnie-loses-legal-war-over-vegemite-ban-c-23073472)
Photo: Nickbenanh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Looking up at the main entrance of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, photographed in April 2012.
