1. Bill Heffernan unsuccessfully ran for the Liberal Party in the 1993 federal election for the seat of Riverina.
28 Facts About Bill Heffernan
1. 2.
In September 1996, the NSW Parliament appointed Bill Heffernan to replace Liberal Senator Michael Baume, whose resignation created a casual vacancy.
3.
Bill Heffernan had been a long-time friend and supporter of then Prime Minister John Howard in the NSW Liberal Party, and in October 1998, after he was elected in his own right to a six-year term in the Senate, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet, a position giving him easy access to the Prime Minister.
4.
Bill Heffernan was involved in bringing the first and second readings of the bill which became the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
5.
In 2007 Bill Heffernan was appointed Chairman of the Prime Minister's Taskforce to examine the potential and opportunities for further land and water development in Northern Australia.
6.
On 17 March 2008, Senator Bill Heffernan announced the establishment of a Senate Inquiry looking at the implications for Australian farmers of world chemical and fertiliser supply and pricing arrangements, monopolistic and cartel behaviour and related matters.
7.
On 19 February 2016, Bill Heffernan announced he would not be a candidate at the 2016 federal election, and would retire at the end of his current term.
8.
Bill Heffernan's term ended at the double dissolution of 9 May 2016.
9.
On 12 March 2002, speaking in the Senate under parliamentary privilege, Bill Heffernan made accusations against a serving judge.
10.
Only at the end of this speech did Bill Heffernan make it clear that the judge he was referring to was Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia.
11.
Senators John Faulkner and Robert Ray and Aden Ridgeway each alleged that Bill Heffernan had deliberately structured his speech this way in order to conceal the fact that he was violating parliamentary standing orders.
12.
Bill Heffernan came under prolonged political pressure as a result of this episode, and was eventually asked by Prime Minister John Howard to resign his post as Parliamentary Secretary, which he did.
13.
Immediately following this statement, Bill Heffernan was censured by the Senate "on the voices".
14.
On 7 February 2006, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Bill Heffernan had been forced to apologise to National Party senator Fiona Nash after a public altercation at Canberra Airport the previous day, during which he had told her to "blow it out her backside".
15.
Senator Bill Heffernan said the airport altercation with his fellow Coalition Senator was just "a bit of colour and movement".
16.
On 7 July 2006, the ABC program Stateline in NSW aired claims that Bill Heffernan was involved in the downfall of former NSW opposition leader John Brogden.
17.
Bill Heffernan denied these claims, and was quoted on the program saying that they were 'bullshit'.
18.
In 2015, Bill Heffernan used parliamentary privilege to allege that he had a document, allegedly produced to the Wood Royal Commission, that listed the names of 28 people, including prominent lawyers, suspected of visiting a "boy brothel" in Kings Cross.
19.
Bill Heffernan stated in parliament that a former Prime Minister was among the names.
20.
Bill Heffernan called for consultants to be axed if they were "wasting taxpayers' money".
21.
Bill Heffernan later denied he had made such claims but The Bulletin stood by the accuracy of its report, citing an audio recording of the Bill Heffernan interview.
22.
On 2 December 2014, during the parliament's last sitting week of the year, Heffernan rang the office of Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm in order to get Leyonhjelm to drop his threat to block government legislation if the Coalition party-room failed to allow a conscience vote on his bill to legalise same-sex marriage.
23.
Bill Heffernan was reported as shouting "If you want to decriminalise drugs for your children, vote Green".
24.
On 30 August 2010, Bill Heffernan admitted being the caller who rang NSW independent MP Rob Oakeshott, and introduced himself as "the devil".
25.
The phone call was answered by Oakeshott's wife, who assumed it was a prank call and hung up, before Bill Heffernan gave his name.
26.
Bill Heffernan said he had been introducing himself as such for a while.
27.
Bill Heffernan is reported to have impersonated Senator Barnaby Joyce during a telephone conversation with one of his constituents.
28.
On 26 May 2014, Bill Heffernan smuggled an imitation pipe bomb into Parliament House and presented it at a Senate hearing, arguing it showed the new security arrangements at Parliament were inadequate.