Australian senator smuggles ‘pipe bomb’ into parliament to show security risk

A veteran Australian senator has brought what he said could be a pipe bomb to the national parliament to demonstrate his view that new security regulations for the building are unsafe.

Senator Bill Heffernan, a member of the ruling conservative Liberal Party, held up the pipe yesterday and what appeared to be some sticks of dynamite during a committee hearing in Canberra.

"Clearly you can do what you bloody well like," said Heffernan, an outspoken former farmer who became a member of the national parliament in 1996.

Heffernan said until now most people working in parliament felt safe, but that new rules being trialled put this at risk by allowing some people with passes, including politicians, and their belongings to no longer be scanned on entry.

"I don't think it any longer is [safe] and to demonstrate that, this morning I brought in what could be, I brought this through security - a pipe bomb," he said placing the pipe on his desk, before pulling what were reportedly fake sticks of dynamite from a plastic shopping bag.