Greens Push to Block US Execution Livestream in Australia
Greens communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young has urged the federal government to block Australians from watching a US military execution set for 3 December.
The Pentagon says former army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan will be executed by firing squad and the event will be livestreamed on 3 December. Washington has not confirmed how or on what platform it will appear. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he will make sure the public can watch the execution of the Fort Hood shooter.
Hanson-Young has written to Communications Minister Anika Wells and the eSafety Commission asking them to act, according to The Guardian. The letter asks the government to warn YouTube, Meta, TikTok and streaming services not to make video of the execution available in Australia.
She also says the eSafety Commission should take regulatory action against large platforms that carry the broadcast. The public call does not spell out what that action would be. The communications department has separately warned broadcasters to act responsibly when reporting on the execution.
Hasan, 56, was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 over the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood in Texas. He was convicted on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Twelve of the 13 people killed and 30 of those wounded were soldiers.
The Greens have called the planned live broadcast 'barbaric'. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that broadcasting the killing would amount to a public execution and breach the absolute prohibition of torture.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce called the public nature of the execution "Roman amphitheatre stuff". Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said streaming it would be "enormously problematic". There are concerns Australian children could see the execution through autoplay on social media feeds, as reported by The Daily Telegraph. In New Zealand, the censor said it would be powerless to block the livestream, according to Reuters. The censor said the law sets a high threshold for banning the livestream.
The broader context here is the gap between what politicians want and what regulators can do. The Greens want prevention. The department talks about responsible reporting and broadcast codes. Wellington talks about legal limits.
What this means for Canberra is practical. A warning to platforms is easy. Enforcement is harder, a bit like trying to enforce an Australian TV blackout on an American channel carried by global apps. The government has not confirmed how a geographic block would work, and Washington has not confirmed the distribution path that would be blocked. Re-uploads, short clips and news use would blur the line between broadcast, report and circulation fast.
