Labor's Luke Creasey has withdrawn his candidacy for the seat of Melbourne after a series of offensive social media posts he made were revealed.
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Labor leader Bill Shorten had initially stood by Mr Creasey but as further posts came to light the young former school teacher said he had phoned the party's National Secretary and would step down.
"I think this is a really important lesson for young people that your social media footprint will follow you," he said.
"It is clear the right thing for me to do is to stand down."
The 29-year-old was running for the seat of Melbourne at the federal election but joined a growing list of candidates to withdraw after Facebook posts showed he had shared rape jokes and made offensive remarks about women.
The posts prompted a review with the Labor Party concerned attention on Mr Creasey was diminishing the impact of its attacks on controversial Liberal candidates.
Bill Shorten started the morning at a press conference with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews where they both stood by the candidate, but within hours The Australian reported further lewd social media posts by Mr Creasey.
The Opposition Leader later said he had asked the secretary of the Victorian Labor Party to investigate the claims, because he wanted "put an end to this matter one way or the other today".
Mr Creasey is expected to be disendorsed this afternoon.
In a post from 2012, Mr Creasey told friends on Facebook that one of his female friends wanted someone to have sex with her, The Australian reports.
"Can't keep that girl away ... or her clothes on. In fact she was just chilling on my couch on her towel just before. She was just saying how she wishes she had a bisexual education student to roughly take her virginity," Mr Creasey reportedly wrote online.
After other friends offered to take the woman's virginity, Mr Creasey replied: "We can all watch!"
"Wait wait wait! You should all do her together. Golden opportunity, .... you're a lucky man."
Mr Creasey has already apologised for liking a rape joke post seven years ago, and more crass material from Mr Creasey'ssocial media past was published on Thursday.
His other controversial posts from 2012 are believed to include lewd jokes about Tony Abbott and derogatory comments about lesbian couples.
Victorian Labor's factions have been divided over whether to disendorse him.
Labor right powerbroker Stephen Conroy said the candidate's comments were "moronic and distasteful".
"He has not helped the Labor cause and he should have a good, hard look in the mirror," Mr Conroy told Sky News.
"I'm uncomfortable with him continuing [as a candidate]."
But earlier on Friday, Mr Shorten said Mr Creasey's remarks were "deeply offensive, shocking and stupid" but argued he had apologised and made the comments when he was much younger.
"He has also come forward and said he was 22 at the time, seven years ago. He is mortified, as he should be," the opposition leader told reporters.
"He doesn't want to cause any embarrassment and he doesn't hold those views now. He has apologised deeply and he certainly doesn't hold those views now.
"Stupid is stupid is stupid. I'm not here giving the bloke a pat on the back. But let's go to what the real contrast here is. The Liberals have just been forced to dump another one of their extreme right-wing candidates," he said, referring to former Tasmanian Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan.
Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews - who is from the left faction, as is the candidate - argued there was a difference between Mr Creasey's posts and anti-Muslim remarks that triggered the sacking of former Tasmanian Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan on Friday morning.
"He has owned it, he has apologised. I believe his apology is sincere," Mr Andrews told reporters early on Friday morning.
"That sits in stark contrast to the culture of contemporary extremism that is in the Liberal Party."
Melbourne is held by the Greens' Adam Bandt, whose party came under heavy attack by Labor before last year's Victoria state election, with Mr Andrews saying the Greens had a toxic culture towards women.
Mr Andrews was asked on Friday why he believed Mr Creasey's online activities were OK.
"It's not OK, and he [Mr Creasey] himself has made that very clear," the Premier said.
"The difference here is that he's owned it, he's made an apology and I believe it to be sincere."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Labor candidate's age was no defence or excuse.
"He may well be contrite but the issue is not whether he's contrite, it is whether that's a standard that Bill Shorten is prepared to accept," Mr Morrison said.
"Only Bill Shorten can explain why he's prepared to accept the 'young man's defence' when it comes to excusing this sort of behaviour."
Mr Morrison said Labor's handling of the controversy suggested its candidates could say or do whatever they liked, so long as they later apologised.
Coburg High School principal Stewart Milner released a statement about Mr Creasey who used to work as Food Technology teacher at the school before resigning to contest the seat of Melbourne.
Mr Milner said Mr Creasey was not employed by Coburg High School or any other school at the time he published the controversial social media posts.
He said students, staff and parents had taken offence at the posts that in no way reflected the school's beliefs and values.
On Monday, another Labor candidate, Wayne Kurnoth, was forced to quit the party over anti-Semitic social media posts and conspiracy theories including that the world is secretly controlled by an alien race of Jewish lizard shape-shifters, mythological beings able to change their physical forms at will.
And earlier this week, Liberal candidate for the Melbourne seat of Wills Peter Killin resigned after it was revealed that he had encouraged conservative Christians to "infiltrate" the Liberal Party to stop gay people from being elected to office and party positions.
SMH/The Age
With AAP
