Paedophile MP 'in SA's Parliament'

ADELAIDE - South Australia's political leaders have reacted with shock to claims there may be a paedophile MP in their midst.

Two gay men recently found dead in Adelaide had provided information about homosexual paedophiles, allegedly including a member of SA's Parliament, Speaker Peter Lewis said.

Lewis said he had passed on the men's claims to police, saying the subsequent deaths of the men suggested the alleged paedophile MP could also be a murderer.

Premier Mike Rann said he was shocked at the claims.

"If there is any MP who is a mass murderer and a paedophile, they should be in jail and not in parliament," Rann said.

Liberal leader Rob Kerin called for a rapid investigation into the paedophile MP claims made by homosexuals Robert Woodland and Shaine Moore.

Woodland, 36, was bashed to death last December in Adelaide's south parklands - a known homosexual meeting place - in an as-yet unsolved murder.

Moore, 33, was found dead in his north suburban Adelaide house last Friday in what police say were suspicious circumstances.

Both men were gay and Lewis said they had separately met him last year regarding an inquiry by a retired Supreme Court judge into the abuse of state wards.

"The way they had told the story was that they had seen this person in their public life as a politician," Lewis said , adding they alleged the politician favoured young boys.

SA Police Superintendent Neil Smith said police previously investigated "allegations relating to inappropriate behaviour by a Member of Parliament" and found them unsubstantiated.

- AAP