Bill Heffernan
Encyclopedia
William Daniel Heffernan, more commonly known as Bill Heffernan, (born 3 March 1943), Australian politician, has been a Liberal Party
member of the Senate
, representing the state of New South Wales
, since September 1996.
and attended St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
. He has qualifications in wool classing and welding from Wagga Wagga Technical College and has been a farmer in the Junee area for 30 years.There are no records of Heffernan having qualifications in civil rights, water management or history. Heffernan lives with his wife Margaret.
In September 1996 the NSW parliament chose Heffernan to replace the long-serving Liberal Senator Michael Baume
, whose resignation created a casual vacancy. He 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. He has since been reelected twice, in 2004 and 2010, and is currently the Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries, Rural & Regional Affairs Policy Committee, Member of Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport and Member of the Joint House Committee. His current Senate term expires on 30 June 2017.
, Heffernan made accusations against a judge.
Only at the end of this speech did Heffernan make it clear that the judge he was referring to was Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia
. Senators John Faulkner
and Robert Ray
(Labor
) and Aden Ridgeway
(Australian Democrats
) each alleged that Heffernan had deliberately structured his speech this way in order to conceal the fact that he was violating parliamentary standing orders. (Standing Order 193 prohibits senators from making 'imputations of improper motives or personal reflections' on currently-serving judicial officers.)
Heffernan's allegations against Kirby included the inappropriate use of a Commonwealth car to solicit sex from an under-age male prostitute, and to support these claims he produced what appeared to be a driver's log book recording the alleged trip. The documents were found to be a forgery.In fact, the driver's log book recording trips included days in which Kirby was able to demonstrate he was overseas.
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. On 19 March he made a statement to the Senate in which he withdrew the claims. Immediately following this statement, Heffernan was censured unanimously by the Senate. The Prime Minister was also censured for his involvement in the episode by an amendment to the censure motion which passed 31–30, with Coalition
government senators voting against it. He did not resign his Senate seat, and has since been reelected twice.
accused Heffernan of engaging in the "politics of personal destruction", and quoted John Hewson
(a former Liberal Party
leader) as saying that John Howard
had used Heffernan to distribute dirt and to run his agenda against individuals "for almost as long as I have known him".
after a public altercation at Canberra Airport the previous day, during which he had told her to "blow it out her backside". Senator Heffernan said the airport altercation with his fellow Coalition Senator was just "a bit of colour and movement". But National Party
MP
De-Anne Kelly
described the incident as "workplace harassment", saying "workplace harassment is not acceptable anywhere".
On 7 July 2006, the ABC
programme Stateline in NSW aired claims that Heffernan was involved in the downfall of former NSW opposition leader John Brogden. Alex McTaggart
, independent member for Pittwater, his wife Denise, and Peter Jones, a member of McTaggart's campaign team, claimed on the program that Heffernan contacted them and said that he was the Prime Minister's [Howard's] right hand man, and did his 'dirty work'. The McTaggarts claimed that Heffernan told them he had a dirt file on Brogden, said that Brogden needed to be 'paid back', and tried to lure them into publicising material damaging to Brogden's character. Heffernan denied these claims, and was quoted on the programme saying that they were 'bullshit'.
In October 2006, Heffernan called for "someone's arse to get kicked" because of delays to the construction of the final major link in the dual carriageway between Sydney and Melbourne. According to Heffernan, a "colony of whatever they are that live in the edge of the bank of the creek" (platypus
) was causing the delay and it was a problem that could be fixed "in ten minutes". He called for consultants to be axed who were "wasting taxpayers' money".
During the New South Wales 2007 State Election, Heffernan was accused of stealing Greens
how-to-vote cards and misrepresenting Greens policies to voters. He was reported as shouting "If you want to decriminalise drugs for your children, vote Green". Police were called but he was not arrested.
In an interview with The Bulletin
magazine in May 2007, Senator Heffernan repeated previously-stated views that priests should be able to marry because "...priests, like the rest of us, wake up with a horn at four in the morning."
In the same Bulletin
interview, Heffernan caused widespread outrage by suggesting the unmarried and childless Deputy Leader of the Opposition Julia Gillard
was unfit for leadership because she was "deliberately barren". He continued: "I mean anyone who chooses to remain deliberately barren ... they’ve got no idea what life’s about." Heffernan was later forced to apologise for the remarks.
According to The Age
newspaper, Bill Heffernan posed as an ASIO
agent in a telephone call to John Grabbe, a farm manager in New South Wales. Under the Crimes Act
it is an offence to impersonate a Commonwealth officer.
The Bulletin published an interview which quoted Bill Heffernan as stating that Australia had to "settle the north" because millions of people in Asia may find it a "very attractive proposition" if climate change leaves them water-poor. Heffernan later denied he had made such claims, but The Bulletin stood by the accuracy of its report, citing an audio recording of the Heffernan interview.
Heffernan is also reported to have impersonated Senator Barnaby Joyce
during a telephone conversation with one of his constituents.
On 12 November, Senator Heffernan announced that a Senate Inquiry would be launched to examine gene patents, saying: "Patents should be for inventions, not for naturally occurring genes." The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs will inquire into the granting of patent monopolies in Australia over human and microbial genes and non-coding sequences, proteins and their derivatives.
Senator Heffernan said "the granting of gene patents has the potential to have a detrimental impact on healthcare costs, medical research, provision of training and accreditation for healthcare professionals as well as the health and wellbeing of all Australians."
"Patents should be for inventions not for naturally occurring genes, these patents will disrupt future breast and prostate cancer testing and research." Senator Heffernan said.
Following the launch of the Senate inquiry into Gene Patents by Senator Heffernan, Mervyn Jacobsen, founder and 40 per cent shareholder of the Melbourne company Genetic Technologies, which holds the patents for BRCA1
and BRCA2
, backed down from threatened legal action.
, and introduced himself as "the devil". The phone call was answered by Oakeshott's wife, who assumed it was a prank call and hung up, before Heffernan gave his name. Oakeshott accused the Liberal-National Coalition of dirty tactics and described the introduction as "Rambo-style". Heffernan said he had been introducing himself as such for a while.
, Alan Joyce
, an "an old Irish bomb maker", saying "Mr Joyce if the power was yours, you know from being an old Irish bomb maker, if you had the choice, what would be the ideal pilot training?" During the hearing he also made comments about having a beer in a three-minute break and there being no whiskey in the water. He made similar comments to Liberal party member Julian McGauran
, saying "Senator McGuaran are you, do you come from a long line of Irish bomb-makers, do you?"
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
member of the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
, representing the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, since September 1996.
Early life
Heffernan was born in Junee, New South WalesJunee, New South Wales
Junee is a medium sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in particular correctional services...
and attended St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
St Joseph's College is a Roman Catholic, Secondary, day and boarding school for boys. It is located in Hunters Hill, a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
. He has qualifications in wool classing and welding from Wagga Wagga Technical College and has been a farmer in the Junee area for 30 years.There are no records of Heffernan having qualifications in civil rights, water management or history. Heffernan lives with his wife Margaret.
Career
Heffernan was a member of the Junee Shire Council 1981–96 and was President of the Council 1989–90 and 1991–93. He was active in the Liberal Party for many years and was the party's NSW State President 1993–1996.In September 1996 the NSW parliament chose Heffernan to replace the long-serving Liberal Senator Michael Baume
Michael Baume
Michael Ehrenfried Baume AO was an Australian Liberal Party politician who represented the Division of Macarthur in the House of Representatives and the state of New South Wales in the Senate.Born in Sydney, Baume earned a B.A...
, whose resignation created a casual vacancy. He had been a long-time friend and supporter of then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
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. He has since been reelected twice, in 2004 and 2010, and is currently the Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries, Rural & Regional Affairs Policy Committee, Member of Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport and Member of the Joint House Committee. His current Senate term expires on 30 June 2017.
2002
On 12 March 2002, speaking in the Senate under parliamentary privilegeParliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislator. It is common in countries whose constitutions are...
, Heffernan made accusations against a judge.
Only at the end of this speech did Heffernan make it clear that the judge he was referring to was Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
. Senators John Faulkner
John Faulkner
John Philip Faulkner is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor member of the Australian Senate since 1989, representing the state of New South Wales. Following a period serving on various Senate Committees and as Deputy Whip, he was a Minister in the Keating Labor government 1993-96...
and Robert Ray
Robert Ray (Australian politician)
Robert Francis Ray , Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Senate from July 1981 to May 2008, representing the state of Victoria....
(Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
) and Aden Ridgeway
Aden Ridgeway
Aden Derek Ridgeway , Australian politician, was a member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales, from 1999 to 2005, representing the Australian Democrats. During his term he was the only Aboriginal member of the Australian Parliament.-Early history:Ridgeway was born in Macksville, New South...
(Australian Democrats
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...
) each alleged that Heffernan had deliberately structured his speech this way in order to conceal the fact that he was violating parliamentary standing orders. (Standing Order 193 prohibits senators from making 'imputations of improper motives or personal reflections' on currently-serving judicial officers.)
Heffernan's allegations against Kirby included the inappropriate use of a Commonwealth car to solicit sex from an under-age male prostitute, and to support these claims he produced what appeared to be a driver's log book recording the alleged trip. The documents were found to be a forgery.In fact, the driver's log book recording trips included days in which Kirby was able to demonstrate he was overseas.
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. On 19 March he made a statement to the Senate in which he withdrew the claims. Immediately following this statement, Heffernan was censured unanimously by the Senate. The Prime Minister was also censured for his involvement in the episode by an amendment to the censure motion which passed 31–30, with Coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
government senators voting against it. He did not resign his Senate seat, and has since been reelected twice.
2005
In a public lecture given on 27 September 2005, political opponent Mark LathamMark Latham
Mark William Latham , an author and former Australian politician, was leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005....
accused Heffernan of engaging in the "politics of personal destruction", and quoted John Hewson
John Hewson
John Robert Hewson AM is an Australian economist, company director and a former politician. He was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1990 to 1994 and led the party to defeat at the 1993 federal election.-Early life:...
(a former Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
leader) as saying that John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
had used Heffernan to distribute dirt and to run his agenda against individuals "for almost as long as I have known him".
2006
On 7 February 2006, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Heffernan had been forced to apologise to National Party senator Fiona NashFiona Nash
Fiona Joy Nash , Australian politician, has been a National Party of Australia member of the Australian Senate since 1 July 2005, representing the state of New South Wales....
after a public altercation at Canberra Airport the previous day, during which he had told her to "blow it out her backside". Senator Heffernan said the airport altercation with his fellow Coalition Senator was just "a bit of colour and movement". But National Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
De-Anne Kelly
De-Anne Kelly
De-Anne Margaret Kelly , was an Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Dawson, Queensland. She was also the first female member of the National Party to win a seat in the...
described the incident as "workplace harassment", saying "workplace harassment is not acceptable anywhere".
On 7 July 2006, the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
programme Stateline in NSW aired claims that Heffernan was involved in the downfall of former NSW opposition leader John Brogden. Alex McTaggart
Alex McTaggart
Alex McTaggart MP, a former Australian politician, was an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Pittwater between 2005 and 2007...
, independent member for Pittwater, his wife Denise, and Peter Jones, a member of McTaggart's campaign team, claimed on the program that Heffernan contacted them and said that he was the Prime Minister's [Howard's] right hand man, and did his 'dirty work'. The McTaggarts claimed that Heffernan told them he had a dirt file on Brogden, said that Brogden needed to be 'paid back', and tried to lure them into publicising material damaging to Brogden's character. Heffernan denied these claims, and was quoted on the programme saying that they were 'bullshit'.
In October 2006, Heffernan called for "someone's arse to get kicked" because of delays to the construction of the final major link in the dual carriageway between Sydney and Melbourne. According to Heffernan, a "colony of whatever they are that live in the edge of the bank of the creek" (platypus
Platypus
The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
) was causing the delay and it was a problem that could be fixed "in ten minutes". He called for consultants to be axed who were "wasting taxpayers' money".
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.During the New South Wales 2007 State Election, Heffernan was accused of stealing Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
how-to-vote cards and misrepresenting Greens policies to voters. He was reported as shouting "If you want to decriminalise drugs for your children, vote Green". Police were called but he was not arrested.
In an interview with The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
magazine in May 2007, Senator Heffernan repeated previously-stated views that priests should be able to marry because "...priests, like the rest of us, wake up with a horn at four in the morning."
In the same Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
interview, Heffernan caused widespread outrage by suggesting the unmarried and childless Deputy Leader of the Opposition Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
was unfit for leadership because she was "deliberately barren". He continued: "I mean anyone who chooses to remain deliberately barren ... they’ve got no idea what life’s about." Heffernan was later forced to apologise for the remarks.
According to The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper, Bill Heffernan posed as an ASIO
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
agent in a telephone call to John Grabbe, a farm manager in New South Wales. Under the Crimes Act
Crimes Act 1914
The Crimes Act 1914 is a piece of Federal legislation in Australia. Pursuant to the Australian Constitution it prevails in any conflict with State laws dealing with the subject of crime....
it is an offence to impersonate a Commonwealth officer.
The Bulletin published an interview which quoted Bill Heffernan as stating that Australia had to "settle the north" because millions of people in Asia may find it a "very attractive proposition" if climate change leaves them water-poor. Heffernan later denied he had made such claims, but The Bulletin stood by the accuracy of its report, citing an audio recording of the Heffernan interview.
Heffernan is also reported to have impersonated Senator Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Thomas Gerald Joyce , Australian politician, has been a National Party member of the Australian Senate representing the state of Queensland since July 2005...
during a telephone conversation with one of his constituents.
2008
On 17 March 2008, Senator 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. In the same month Bill Heffernan announced the establishment of a Senate Inquiry into Meat Marketing. The Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport will look at the need for effective supervision of national standards and controls and the national harmonisation of regulations applying to the branding and marketing of meat.On 12 November, Senator Heffernan announced that a Senate Inquiry would be launched to examine gene patents, saying: "Patents should be for inventions, not for naturally occurring genes." The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs will inquire into the granting of patent monopolies in Australia over human and microbial genes and non-coding sequences, proteins and their derivatives.
Senator Heffernan said "the granting of gene patents has the potential to have a detrimental impact on healthcare costs, medical research, provision of training and accreditation for healthcare professionals as well as the health and wellbeing of all Australians."
"Patents should be for inventions not for naturally occurring genes, these patents will disrupt future breast and prostate cancer testing and research." Senator Heffernan said.
Following the launch of the Senate inquiry into Gene Patents by Senator Heffernan, Mervyn Jacobsen, founder and 40 per cent shareholder of the Melbourne company Genetic Technologies, which holds the patents for BRCA1
BRCA1
BRCA1 is a human caretaker gene that produces a protein called breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein, responsible for repairing DNA. The first evidence for the existence of the gene was provided by the King laboratory at UC Berkeley in 1990...
and BRCA2
BRCA2
BRCA2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BRCA2 gene.BRCA2 orthologs have been identified in most mammals for which complete genome data are available....
, backed down from threatened legal action.
2010
On 30 August 2010, Heffernan admitted being the caller who rang NSW independent MP Rob OakeshottRob Oakeshott
Robert James Murray "Rob" Oakeshott is an Australian politician. He is the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales, which he won in the 2008 by-election following the resignation of former Nationals leader and Howard minister Mark Vaile...
, and introduced himself as "the devil". The phone call was answered by Oakeshott's wife, who assumed it was a prank call and hung up, before Heffernan gave his name. Oakeshott accused the Liberal-National Coalition of dirty tactics and described the introduction as "Rambo-style". Heffernan said he had been introducing himself as such for a while.
2011
At a Senate Estimates Hearing in Canberra, Heffernan called the Irish-born head of QantasQantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
, Alan Joyce
Alan Joyce
Alan Joyce is a former Australian rules footballer who after playing 49 games for Hawthorn became a premiership winning coach for the club. Originally from Glen Iris, Joyce played in the ruck for Hawthorn and gained life membership in 1996.In 1988 when incumbent coach Allan Jeans became ill due to...
, an "an old Irish bomb maker", saying "Mr Joyce if the power was yours, you know from being an old Irish bomb maker, if you had the choice, what would be the ideal pilot training?" During the hearing he also made comments about having a beer in a three-minute break and there being no whiskey in the water. He made similar comments to Liberal party member Julian McGauran
Julian McGauran
Julian McGauran , Australian politician, was a member of the Australian Senate, representing the state of Victoria. Elected as a member of the National Party, he resigned from the Nationals and joined the Liberal Party of Australia in February 2006...
, saying "Senator McGuaran are you, do you come from a long line of Irish bomb-makers, do you?"