diff --git a/gstlal/gst/python/Makefile.am b/gstlal/gst/python/Makefile.am
index b2078adaff405e95384ec1b106bb942805f5bcfb..634c32789c7f464646c710ef3ef936beac3871d7 100644
--- a/gstlal/gst/python/Makefile.am
+++ b/gstlal/gst/python/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Put these Python scripts into the plugin directory under "python" so that
 # GStreamer sees them.
+# FIXME: elements must be byte-compiled with python 3.  remove when
+# configure.ac is picking up python3 for us
+PYTHON = $(shell env which python3)
 pkgpythondir = $(plugindir)/python
 pkgpyexecdir = $(pkgpythondir)