The Greens’ communications spokesman has referred the live streaming of the execution of a US citizen by firing squad to the eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, calling for any live or future broadcast to be blocked in Australia.
“I write to express my deep concerns regarding proposals from the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan,” Sarah Hanson-Young said in a letter dated 11 October, and also addressed to the Minister for Communications, Anika Wells.
“This is an unconscionable, abhorrent act that will undoubtedly expose an immeasurable number of people, including Australians and their children, to traumatic, barbaric content that has absolutely no place in any society, let alone ours.”
Hegseth revealed last week the Pentagon’s plans to live stream the execution, saying: “People need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
Hasan murdered 13 people while serving as a US Army psychiatrist at the Fort Hood Army base in 2009.
Hanson-Young called upon Wells and Inman Grant to “take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the US administration’s livestream execution will not be accessible on the Australian internet or broadcast on Australian free-to-air or streaming services”.
“I further ask the eSafety commissioner to take regulatory action against any large platforms who allow the broadcast in Australia,” Hanson-Young said.
“The government must be preemptive and warn streaming and social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Meta, that very large fines will apply if this state murder is broadcast or replayed at a later date.
“Inaction on this will jeopardise millions of Australians’ online safety and expose both adults and children to this harmful content. No Australian should be exposed to this barbaric act on our phones, tablets or televisions.”
Hanson-Young found an unlikely ally in One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce, who on Monday referred to the proposed live stream as “Roman amphitheatre stuff”.
“We don’t have the death penalty in Australia, and I certainly don’t want any children, or anybody, to be honest, to witness another human being being shot by a firing squad,” Joyce told the ABC’s News 24.
The last military execution by firing squad took place in January 1945.
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