THE state MP facing child pornography allegations in court has now been charged with new and more serious offences.

In the Adelaide Magistrates Court today, the prosecution withdrew the existing seven charges against the former Labor representative, but laid a fresh information alleging 14 offences of obtaining access to child pornography. Seven of those charges are aggravated.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between August 6, 2010, and April 12, 2011.

After a pre-trial conference held in a closed court, the media was allowed into the courtroom to hear prosecutor John Wells reveal the accused would now face 14 charges, some of which are major indictable.

Major indictable offences are considered to be charges of such gravity that they are heard in the District Court before a jury, rather than the Magistrates Court.

A person charged with major indictable sexual offences can, under state law, be publicly named once they have entered a plea to the charges and been ordered to stand trial.

Those who face minor indictable charges in the Magistrates Court - which was what the MP was facing until today - cannot be named publicly until after their trial.

The MP was remanded to a committal hearing on August 3 in the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Today's events were the latest twist in a case that has constantly shifted since the MP was arrested at his home on April 20 last year. Initially, the MP faced two counts of obtaining access to, and two counts of possessing, child pornography.

However, in March prosecutors replaced those four charges with 12 allegations. They filed fresh court documents alleging two normal counts, and three aggravated counts, of possessing child pornography, plus seven counts of taking steps to obtain access to child pornography.

Then in May, prosecutors dropped the charges alleging possession of child pornography, and said they would proceed only with the charges of taking steps to obtain access to child pornography. Today, the allegations changed again.

Originally published as State MP faces new child porn charges