Barnaby Joyce joins calls against US execution livestream

A planned livestream of a United States military firing squad execution has triggered calls for Australia to block the footage, but both major parties have signalled concerns over censorship and intervening in American domestic affairs.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth declared that on 3 December the US government will execute Nidal Malik Hasan, the former US Army Major who killed 13 people and wounded dozens more in a 2009 Fort Hood shooting, and that it will be in public and available to watch online.

The plans, approved by US President Donald Trump, will be the first military firing squad since World War Two in the US and the first execution in US history to be broadcast live.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she’s written to the eSafety commissioner and communications minister, asking them to stop any livestreams and fine social media platforms that fail to block them.

“This is incredibly shocking and barbaric,” Hanson-Young said. “Australians don’t want this on our screens.”

“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,” she wrote in a letter, seen by SBS News.

“I urgently ask you to confirm that you will 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.”

The government must 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”, she wrote.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce also condemned the plan, calling it “Roman amphitheatre stuff”.

“I certainly don’t want any children or anybody, to be honest, to witness another human being being shot by a firing squad. No, don’t want that,” he told News24.

A spokesperson for the communications department told the ABC “broadcasters must comply with rules about reporting on violent or distressing content [and] it would be expected they exercise strong editorial control over their coverage and act responsibly in reporting on this matter”, while the eSafety commissioner was seeking advice.

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino dodged questions on ABC radio about what the government could do, saying it is “forward-leaning” across online safety and declined to comment on the “domestic politics of any other country when it comes to matters like this”.

“One of the things we need to grapple with is imposing protections where appropriate and making sure people have the freedom to express themselves,” he said.

Censorship and broader concerns

Opposition treasury spokesperson Tim Wilson said he found the prospect of a livestreamed execution “enormously problematic”, but had concerns over censorship.

“We shouldn’t be promoting that sort of violence,” Wilson said. “But the challenge is going to be: how do you do that in a way that doesn’t amount to a censorship ban on the internet?”

Human rights groups say the focus should not only be on the broadcast itself, but on the execution.

Amnesty International Australia spokesperson Kyinzom Dhongdue called on the government to formally raise concerns with the US government and oppose both the execution and plans to televise it.

“The suggestion that an execution by firing squad should be livestreamed for public viewing is an appalling disregard for human dignity,” Dhongdue said.

“Turning a state-sanctioned killing into a public spectacle only compounds the cruelty of the death penalty.”

The last person in Australia to be legally executed was Ronald Ryan, who was hanged in Victoria’s Pentridge Prison in 1967.

In 1985, NSW became the last Australian state or territory to abolish the death penalty and in 2010 Australia introduced legislation banning the reintroduction of capital punishment in any state or territory. Australia has advocated for its global abolition.

Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to capital punishment over the weekend, declaring it “inadmissible” and arguing that justice can be achieved without denying offenders the possibility of redemption.

There is some uncertainty about whether the execution will be broadcast after US vice president JD Vance cast doubt on it, saying that he would not watch it if it did go ahead.

Homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed concerns that livestreaming the execution could fuel radicalisation.

“I don’t see an elevated risk at this point at all because of this,” Mullin told CBS on Sunday.

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