An Australian politician protested new security policies by bringing a fake pipe bomb into parliamentary buildings.

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan held up a piece of metal pipe and a mock explosive device in the chamber to show that security had become unacceptably lax.

He spoke about how he used improvised explosives on tree stumps as a child, and how "at the present time, there is nothing to stop anyone from bringing those ingredients in here over a period of time through security".

New security arrangements allow for members of parliament, their families and some staff to pass through without being searched.