He admits to announcing himself as the Devil for some time.
2006
On 7 February 2006, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that 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". Senator Heffernan said the airport altercation with his fellow Coalition Senator was just "a bit of colour and movement".[10] But National Party MP De-Anne Kelly described the incident as "workplace harassment", saying "workplace harassment is not acceptable anywhere".[10]
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'.[11]
2007
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.[13]
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." [14]
In the same Bulletin interview, Heffernan caused widespread outrage by suggesting the Deputy Leader of the Opposition Julia Gillard was unfit for leadership because she was "deliberately barren".[14] He continued: "I mean anyone who chooses to remain deliberately barren ... theyve got no idea what lifes about."[15] Heffernan was later forced to apologise for the remarks.[16]
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.[17]
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.[18] 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.[19]
Heffernan is also reported to have impersonated Senator Barnaby Joyce during a telephone conversation with one of his constituents.[17]
2009
At the National Marriage Day Breakfast held in Canberra on 13 August, Bill Heffernan was accused by gay rights group Equal Love of equating homosexuality with paedophilia. Specifically, Heffernan allegedly stated to a gay rights activist in the corridors of the conference that "I don't mind gay people. I just want you to stop fucking the kids".[27] On 14 August, Heffernan denied these claims, stating that, "Everyone knows where I stand on protecting the institution of marriage and prosecuting the rights of the gay community. Everyone knows that I conduct a continuous war on people who use kids as sex objects and I don't intend to change now." [28] On 17 August, he issued a public apology for his comments, stating: "I wish to apologise to all those people who were offended with alleged comments published in the media... Please be assured I have a great relationship with many gay people, so at times, printed material is often misquoted and untrue". LGBT rights activist Gary Burns accepted the apology, adding that "it constitutes public acknowledgment that it is unacceptable to link gay men and paedophilia."[29]
2010
On 30 August 2010, Bill Heffernan was accused of calling the home of a NSW independent MP Rob Oakeshott, and referring to himself as "the devil". The phone call was answered by Oakeshott's wife, who assumed it was a crank call and hung up. Heffernan later admitted that he made the phone call, and had been introducing himself as such for a while.[30]
In part from... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Heffernan
