Concerned about safety issues at Australia's Parliament House, Liberal senator Bill Heffernan brought a fake bomb to the building to show how lax the new security arrangement was.
Heffernan has voiced his opinion on the new 12-month trial security measures stating that the $1 billion parliament building could face some serious safety threats. The new system does not scan hundreds of MPs, senators, political and departmental staff. Moreover, their belongings too are not checking before entry.
The idea behind such a system was to save the department money, speed up entry and allow internal security staff to be positioned away from entrances to other areas of the building. Before this new system was put in effect, every person working in Parliament House underwent an airport-style metal detector check and it was mandatory to have their belongings X-rayed.
"This building is no longer secure... To demonstrate that... I brought this through security, a pipe bomb," Heffernan, a Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee member, said.
The 71-year-old wheat farmer also explained how as a child he blew tree stumps out on the farm. "We'd get some nitropril, a quart of distillate, a plug of jelly [gelignite] and a detonator, light the bloody thing and (it would) go to buggery. It could blow a tree the size of this building out of the ground. At the present time there is nothing to stop anyone from bringing those ingredients in here over a period of time through security, would you agree?" Senator Heffernan asked.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus was questioned about routine police and security issues. He was informed that Heffernan would bring in a fake bomb to the building to show the cons of relaxing the security. However, no other senators were informed about it. Negus agreed that under current arrangements, bringing in explosives was a security threat.
However, he noted that the federal police, who provide security for the boundary of Parliament House, raised security concerns with the department of parliamentary services.
Although this time he was able to make his point about the lax security issues in the building, in 2009 he made headlines for bringing an 18cm pocket knife in the New South Wales state Parliament House. However, the weapon was confiscated by the security. He had then argued that it was his right to carry a knife with him as he was a farmer.
