One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has backed calls from the far-left Greens to prevent Australians from viewing the US execution of a Muslim terrorist, saying he doesn’t want “anyone” to see it.
The Greens are lobbying Communications Minister Anika Wells and Australia’s online censorship boss, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, to “take whatever action is necessary” to block the planned broadcast in Australia.
The US Department of Defence announced last week that the Pentagon would livestream the December firing squad squad execution of mass shooter Nidal Malik Hassan, who killed 13 and wounded 32 at military base Fort Hood in 2009, which Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called “shocking and barbaric”.
“The government must be pre-emptive 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,” she wrote in her letter to Ms Wells and Ms Inman Grant.
“Inaction on this will jeopardise millions of Australians’ online safety and expose both adults and children to this harmful content.”
Mr Joyce, who was a deputy prime minister twice as Nationals leader before defecting to One Nation, agreed with Ms Hanson-Young in comments made on Monday, and said Australians should not be exposed to the execution online, ABC News reported.
“We don’t have the death penalty in Australia, and I certainly don’t want children, or anyone for that matter, witnessing another human being shot by a firing squad,” he said.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson also called the planned execution livestream “enormously problematic”, but asked how it could be blocked without infringing on free speech.
“If it’s going to be live streamed, how are you going to do that without creating the artifice to block content on the internet and create an online portal of censorship?” he asked.
Mr Joyce’s comments come after One Nation abandoned its longstanding support for capital punishment, with leader Pauline Hanson saying in August “the death penalty is not One Nation policy”.
Header image: Left, Barnaby Joyce (One Nation). Right, Sarah Hanson-Young (The Greens). Inset, Nidal Malik Hasan.
