Australia:  Liberal party candidate Kevin Baker stands down over "offensive" website

Politicians must not joke!

The Liberal candidate at the centre of a controversy over offensive comments on a web forum has quit.  Kevin Baker’s name will still appear on the ballot paper because nominations have closed but he is considered unlikely to win Charlton, a safe Labor seat in NSW.

Labor had demanded Mr Abbott dump Kevin Baker as his candidate for former minister Greg Combet's seat of Charlton in NSW over the "Mini-Mods" web forum.

The forum, which has been pulled down since the criticism broke, featured a general discussion section with the banner: "Talk about anything you want - no censorship, no stress!"

According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, the forum included jokes labelling the Pope as a paedophile, referring to women making love on pool tables and "Tit banter".

In a statement, Mr Baker said he had decided not to run as the Liberal candidate for Charlton.  "I understand that while my name will still appear on the ballot paper, my campaign is over," he said.  "I deeply regret the posts made on my website and decided that it was not appropriate to continue as the party’s candidate."

NSW Liberal Party state director Mark Neeham said the party had accepted Mr Baker’s resignation as the candidate for Charlton.   "Consequently the party will not be represented in Charlton at the election," Mr Neeham said.

Mr Abbott had earlier said he would be briefed on the issue, but noted Mr Baker had apologised for the comments.

"He's done the wrong thing. To his credit he's pulled down the site. He has abjectly and quite properly apologised but, yep, he's done the wrong thing," he said.

But Mr Abbott had left the door open to potentially dumping Mr Baker as a candidate, saying he would review further information about the issue later on Tuesday.  "I'm going to receive a further briefing on this later today," Mr Abbott said.  "I'll be further briefed on this. He has closed the site down and he has abjectly apologised."

In a statement, the Labor campaign said Mr Baker's website "included offensive references about incest, domestic violence, racism and child abuse" and "jokes about having sex with stripper

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