Australian senator smuggles 'bomb' into Parliament

An Australian lawmaker smuggled a replica explosive device into parliament on Monday to highlight security shortfalls created by budget cuts, in perhaps the oddest protest yet against the conservative government's controversial cost-cutting measures.

Senator Bill Heffernan, a member of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's ruling Liberal Party, unveiled the long metal tube designed to look like a homemade "pipe bomb" during hearings attended by the head of the Australian Federal Police.