Bill Heffernan is an Australian Liberal senator representing New South Wales. He has frequently been accused of homophobia, especially in connection with his long-standing antipathy towards openly gay High Court judge Michael Kirby, which culminated in a controversial incident in 2002.

On March 12 of that year, speaking under parliamentary privilege, Heffernan publicly accused Kirby of trawling for "rent boys". Although Heffernan did not explicitly claim that these "rent boys" were under the age of consent, the speech - which repeatedly describes an alleged companion of Kirby's as "young", and intersperses condemnation of Kirby with references to protection of "children" - was widely interpreted as an implied accusation of paedophilia.

Heffernan provided as evidence a purported record of a government limousine driver who claimed to have chauffeured Kirby on trips to pick up young male prostitutes.) The primary evidence to back up Heffernan's claim was a record of trips made by the chauffeur on the day, which also detailed other unrelated trips made by several senior Australian politicians. When this evidence was made public (something postponed for some days by Heffernan's decision to send it to the police by ordinary mail), the media quickly contacted those people. Many of them (including Tim Fischer) had records of their own that showed that they could not have taken a limousine ride with the driver on that day, as they were not in the same city. A secondary piece of evidence was the purported testimony of a rent boy; it was soon discovered that this source had previously been dismissed in other investigations as an unreliable witness.

Heffernan's allegations were thus discredited and he was forced to apologise and resign his post as Parliamentary Secretary, and was censured by the Senate, the censure motion passed 31-30 with the Liberals and Nationals voting against. Heffernan retained his Senate seat, however, and was re-elected in 2004. Kirby's response was remarkable for its moderation and his willingness to let the facts speak for themselves.

Hansard transcript, March 12, 2004; Heffernan's speech begins on p. 573