PM says government trying to stop 'abhorrent' US execution live stream

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government will do everything it can to stop the "abhorrent" live stream of a firing squad execution in the United States from being shown in Australia.

Last week US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base in Texas in 2009, would be available for the public to watch, but Vice-President JD Vance cast doubt about whether that would occur.

The potential live stream has elicited a strong response in parliament, with federal members across the political divide urging the government to "pull every single lever" to block the broadcast.

On Tuesday Mr Albanese told Afternoon Briefing that the government would do whatever it could, but acknowledged it was not as simple as "turning off a light switch".

"Australia has had a bipartisan position of opposition to the death penalty and I find the idea of live streaming the death of anybody completely abhorrent," he told ABC.

"We should do whatever we can to stop that occurring."

He said the government was seeking advice on its options.

On Monday the eSafety Commission said it could not prevent Australians from seeing the execution.

"While eSafety does not have powers to proactively prevent a live stream from occurring online, online services have responsibilities under Australia's online safety regulatory framework to protect users from harmful material," a spokesperson told the ABC.

The prime minister said he would make it "very clear" to social media platforms that the content had no place in Australia.

"I think anybody broadcasting this will damage their own reputations as well. They have a social responsibility here to do the right thing," he said.

The ABC has contacted Google, Meta and TikTok to see if they plan to restrict the content, but has not received responses.

Asked whether he had made representations to Donald Trump on the issue, Mr Albanese said the US president had indicated in the media that he was weighing the matter.

"President Trump has already said he is giving consideration to this and I hope that there is a response in the United States as well," he said.

If the broadcast goes ahead, it will mark the first time an execution in the US has been live streamed.

Politicians express concern

Greens Leader David Shoebridge grilled Foreign Minister Penny Wong over the proposed live stream during Tuesday's Question Time and asked about the "shared values" between Australia and "a government that publicly broadcasts state-sanctioned snuff films".

Senator Wong said it would be "deeply distressing for any such vision to be live streamed".

"We don't believe anyone should be confronted with it, particularly younger Australians," she said.

Senator Wong said Australians had a right to expect such content would not appear on their screens.

"We believe that platforms do have a responsibility to meet these expectations," she said.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Ted O'Brien said the government needed to ensure Australians could not view the execution.

"That concerns me deeply. We cannot have young Australians watching an execution," he told Afternoon Briefing.

"That would be appalling, repugnant, and that is why we need to be looking at every possible lever to ensure that is not live streamed, if indeed it goes ahead."