By Noah Secomb in Canberra

Australians should not be able to access the “shocking and barbaric” livestreamed execution of a former US army psychiatrist, the Greens have urged.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced the public will be able to watch the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan on December 3.

Hasan faces the death penalty for killing 13 people and injuring another 32 at the Texas military base in 2009.

It will be the first US military execution in 65 years, the first known execution by firing squad in the country since World War II and the first time a lawful killing has ever been broadcast.

Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young has written to the eSafety Commissioner and the communications minister requesting that efforts be made to block access to the livestream in Australia.

“Inaction on this will jeopardise millions of Australians’ online safety and expose both adults and children to this harmful content,” Senator Hanson-Young said in the letter.

Labor minister Daniel Mulino welcomed previous efforts to protect social media users from harmful content but raised questions about how to target the execution livestream itself.

“We need to walk a fine line with social media between imposing protections where appropriate and making sure that people have the freedom to express themselves,” he told the ABC.

“This is a a difficult balance at times.”

Liberal leader Angus Taylor refused to comment directly and said it’s a matter for the United States.

Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson told the ABC it was “enormously problematic” to tolerate violent content but raised concerns over censorship impacting the internet more broadly.

The decision to broadcast the execution has been condemned around the world, with New Zealand also looking at ways of blocking the livestream.

A spokesperson for the nation’s classification office said it and all other bodies were powerless to block access to a livestream event as it happens.

Whether the broadcast will proceed at all remains unclear after US Vice President JD Vance poured cold water on the announcement on Friday.

Several Republican lawmakers and a leader of the US Catholic church have criticised the move.

News all day, every day at CityNewsQBN.com.au.