Senator uses fake bomb to highlight security failings

An Australian senator startled his colleagues by producing a fake pipe bomb during a committee hearing.

Senator Bill Heffernan, who represents the ruling Liberal Party, was making a point about a relaxation of security at Parliament House as well as the conservative government’s cost-cutting measures.

The 71-year-old farmer said he had “brought this through security: A pipe bomb.” From a plastic shopping bag, he took out what looked like a pipe bomb and several sticks of dynamite taped together, as he explained how he used to blast tree stumps on a farm.