Australian assassin sues for proper to eat Vegemite in maximum-security jail | EUROtoday

A convicted assassin is difficult an Australian state’s ban on prisoners consuming Vegemite, asserting that withholding the “polarizing yeast-based spread” breaches his human proper to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.”

Andre McKechnie, 54, has taken his battle for the “salty, sticky, brown byproduct of brewing beer” to the Supreme Court of Victoria. He is suing Victoria’s Department of Justice and Community Safety and Corrections Victoria, the company accountable for managing the prisons.

The case, scheduled for trial subsequent 12 months, sees McKechnie in search of a court docket declaration that the defendants denied him his proper beneath the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.”

He additionally desires a declaration that the defendants breached the Corrections Act by “failing to provide food adequate to maintain” McKechnie’s “well-being.”

He desires the court docket to order the choice to ban Vegemite to be “remade in accordance with the law.”

McKechnie is at the moment held at maximum-security Port Phillip Prison. He was 23 years previous when he stabbed to demise rich Gold Coast property developer Otto Kuhne in Queensland state in 1994.

He was sentenced to life for homicide and transferred a decade later from the Queensland to the Victorian jail system.

He wrote final 12 months that he spent eight years free on parole in Victoria earlier than he “decided that I had had enough.” He returned to prison and has spent the past decade in custody.

Vegemite has been banned from Victorian prisons since 2006, with Corrections Victoria saying it “interferes with narcotic detection dogs.”

Inmates used to smear packages of illicit drugs with Vegemite in the hope that the odor would distract the dogs from the contraband.

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Vegemite additionally comprises yeast, which is banned from Victorian prisons due to its “potential to be used in the production of alcohol,” the contraband record says.

Manufactured in Australia since 1923 as a substitute for Britain’s Marmite, Vegemite was lengthy marketed as a supply of vitamin B for rising youngsters.

The unfold is beloved by a majority of Australians, however usually thought of an acquired style at greatest by those that weren’t raised on it.

The final U.S. president to go to Australia, Barack Obama, as soon as stated: “It’s horrible.”

Australian band Men at Work aroused worldwide curiosity concerning the yeast-based unfold after they talked about a “Vegemite sandwich” of their Nineteen Eighties hit “Down Under.”

The band’s lead singer Colin Hay as soon as accused American critics of laying Vegemite on too thick, blaming a “more is more” U.S. tradition.

It’s a favourite on breakfast toast and in cheese sandwiches, with most followers agreeing it is best utilized sparingly. Australian vacationers bemoan Vegemite’s shortage abroad.

The Australian authorities intervened in April when Canadian officers quickly prevented a Toronto-based cafe from promoting Vegemite in jars and on toast in a dispute media branded as “Vegemite-gate.” Canadians relented and allowed the product to be offered regardless of its failure to adjust to native laws coping with meals packaging and vitamin fortification.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety and Corrections Victoria declined to touch upon Tuesday. Government companies typically preserve it isn’t acceptable to touch upon points which can be earlier than the courts.

Victims of crime advocate and lawyer John Herron stated it was a frivolous lawsuit and was offensive to victims’ households.

“As victims, we don’t have any rights. We have limited if any support. It’s always about the perpetrator, and this just reinforces that,” stated Herron, whose daughter Courtney Herron, was crushed to demise in a Melbourne park in 2019. Her killer was discovered not responsible of homicide by motive of psychological impairment.

“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 added.

McKechnie’s attorneys didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.