Hard Numbers

Do you have a right to Vegemite?

Will Fitzpatrick

That ban is much to the dismay of inmate Andre McKechnie, who sued Victoria’s Department of Justice and Corrections and argued that the ban violated his right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.” But on Monday, Victoria’s Supreme Court rejected his challenge. Invented in the 1920s as an alternative to the then-popular Marmite, Vegemite was banned in 2006 from Victoria’s prisons over concerns that its pungent smell could be used to conceal contraband or throw drug sniffing dogs off the scent.

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