An imprisoned murderer lost his bid to overturn a ban on inmates eating Vegemite after he argued in court that withholding the yeast-based spread breached his human right to enjoy his Australian culture.
asserted
withholding → imprison → culture
Andre McKechnie, 55, who is serving a life sentence for murder, took his battle for the salty, sticky, black-brown byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court of the state of Victoria last year.
asserted
who → serve → Victoria
He had argued that being refused Vegemite denied him his right under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act to 'enjoy his culture as an Australian in the community with other persons of Australian background,' court documents showed.
asserted
documents → argue → background
Justice Claire Harris accepted prison authorities' refusal to allow McKechnie Vegemite 'limited his cultural rights' under the Charter.
asserted
Harris → accept → Charter
But she found the ban was justified in meeting authorities´ goals of removing illicit drugs and alcohol from the prison system.
asserted
ban → find → system
'The limitation on Mr McKechnie´s ability to enjoy Vegemite in community with other persons of Australian background is primarily that he is a prisoner,' Harris wrote in her 47-page judgment.
asserted
Harris → enjoy → judgment
Prison officials testified at a trial in July that Vegemite had been banned throughout the state´s 12 prisons for the past 20 years because it could potentially impair sniffer dogs´ ability to detect narcotics and could be used to brew alcohol because of its yeast content.
uncertain
it → testify → content
McKechnie, who represented himself in court by video link from maximum security Barwon Prison west of Melbourne, argued that the fact that neighbouring New South Wales state did not ban Vegemite from its prisons was evidence that there were 'less restrictive means reasonably available' to achieve such drug and alcohol outcomes.
asserted
state → represent → outcomes
A judge in Australia has rejected a prisoner's human rights challenge to a ban on Vegemite
Most Australians revere Vegemite as an unfairly maligned culinary icon, and more than 80 per cent of Australian households are estimated to have a jar in their pantries.
asserted
cent → reject → pantries
Vegemite is typically considered an acquired taste at best by those who weren't raised on it.
asserted
who → consider → it
McKechnie had initially testified that the lack of Vegemite had contributed to his thiamine deficiency.
asserted
lack → testify → deficiency
He said both Vegemite and pork were sources of thiamine, also known as vitamin B1.
asserted
Vegemite → say → B1
As a Jew who observed kosher law, he told the court he couldn´t eat pork either and took daily doses of the vitamin.
asserted
he → observe → vitamin
Vegemite has long been marketed as a source of B vitamins thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3) and folate (B9), which are promoted as healthy additions to the diets of growing children.
asserted
which → market → children
But McKechnie dropped the thiamine issue as 'not important,' after lawyers for the prison authorities objected to his evidence.
asserted
lawyers → drop → evidence
McKechnie said not eating Vegemite made him feel 'deprived of being able to practice my Australian culture, sad and disconnected from my family and community.'
The judge responded that 'it is difficult to accept that the inability to consume Vegemite, rather than the fact of his imprisonment, is a material cause of his sadness and disconnection from his family and community.'
asserted
inability → say → family
McKechnie cited an article published in the food studies journal 'Gastronomica' in 2003 that said, 'Vegemite may be the best predictor of national identity of any food in the world.'
uncertain
Vegemite → cite → world
The article, based on research by Australia´s Queensland University in 1995, found that a 'taste for the spread strongly correlates with early exposure and to Australian birth and ancestry.'
McKechnie also referred to the Australian Olympic Committee overturning a Chinese import ban on Vegemite ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
He cited Australian band Men at Work's 1980s international hit 'Down Under' that mentions a 'Vegemite sandwich.'
asserted
that → base → sandwich
On the effectiveness of smearing contraband with Vegemite, McKechnie cited a Melbourne newspaper article from 2017 that reported a man's unsuccessful attempt to use the odour of the spread to conceal illicit drugs that he attempted to smuggle into a music festival in Victoria.
asserted
he → smear → Victoria
The attempt was thwarted by police sniffer dogs.
asserted
attempt → thwart → dogs
The judge upheld prison authorities' argument that McKechnie had failed to provide any proper foundations for his opinion that Vegemite does not interfere with drug sniffer dogs.
asserted
Vegemite → uphold → dogs
McKechnie also argued that Vegemite contained 'no live yeast' and that any piece of fruit would be more useful in making alcohol than the spread.
asserted
piece → argue → spread
A state prison department manager, Kevin White, cited publicly available research that said Vegemite helped home-brewed beer ferment more quickly.
asserted
beer → cite → research
Vegemite's owner, Bega Group, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
asserted
owner → respond → Monday
The Aporia
