It might look like it comes out of a 1974 Datsun, but a revolutionary artificial heart with the potential to save thousands of lives would still be a pipe dream without government investment.

Daniel Timms, the man who built the first model for the artificial heart using pipes from Bunnings wants properly funded medical research and pioneering trials and technology kept in Australia.

A Texan businessman known as "Mattress Mack" gave the financial leverage to get the heart pumping but Dr Timms said if the money had been available at home he may never have left.

The inspiration came from his father, a plumber diagnosed with severe heart failure who sadly died before his son's invention was ready for use.

Dr Timms' company, BiVacor, has conducted trials in the US and Australia but the grou

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