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Dutton says push to ban stabbing video 'silly'

Anna McGuinness
April 26 2024 - 12:13pm

Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton has labelled the government's attempts to have graphic footage of the Wakeley church stabbing removed from social media globally as "silly".

"We can't be the internet police of the world - the Prime Minister is trying that at the moment - but we can have a say about what images are online here in our country," Mr Dutton told 2GB on April 25.

WATCH: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Elon Musk an “arrogant billionaire” in a war of words over censorship after a court ordered X to remove footage of the Wakeley church stabbing.

He said while the law was clear about the ability to take down the footage in Australia he didn't think that should extend to other countries.

Elon Musk, the executive chairman of X, has claimed the platform had removed the video for Australian IP addresses and accused the Australian Government of trying to restrict free speech.

"No president, prime minister or judge has authority over all of Earth," Mr Musk said on X.

"This platform adheres to the laws of countries in those countries, but it would be improper to extend one country's rulings to other countries."

Australia's eSafety Commissioner has had a further interim injunction granted against X Corp in the Federal Court, requiring the platform to immediately hide the material.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said Australia 'can't be internet police of the world' as the eSafety Commissioner pushes X to remove video of the Wakeley church stabbing. Picture by Elesa Kurtz
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said Australia 'can't be internet police of the world' as the eSafety Commissioner pushes X to remove video of the Wakeley church stabbing. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

Mr Dutton's remarks put him at odds with deputy leader Sussan Ley who told Sky News she backed the eSafety Commissioner "100 per cent".

X Corp's Global Government Affairs team released a statement on April 25 which said it believed it had complied with eSafety's removal notice by restricting the content in Australia.

However the statement said X disagreed the the posts should be banned and said the content "does not encourage or provoke violence".

"X believes... that governments should not be able to censor what citizens of other countries see online."

It comes after a war of words between Mr Musk and Tasmanian Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie after he pushed back on eSafety's request.

Senator Lambie said Mr Musk "should put his big boy pants on and do the right thing" by removing 65 tweets containing footage of the Sydney church stabbing.

Meanwhile Mr Musk said the Senator was an "enemy of the people of Australia" and had "utter contempt for the Australian people" in separate posts on X.

The case is scheduled to return to the Federal Court for a further hearing on May 10.

Anna McGuinness

Anna McGuinness

Breaking News National Journalist