The Victorian Greens will cease campaigning for the seat of Sandringham after it emerged its candidate is facing sexual assault allegations.
The allegation concerning candidate Dominic Phillips was made in writing on Thursday morning to party leader Samantha Ratnam, who then contacted the complainant to inform them that action would be taken.
Party leader Samantha Ratnam said she received the complaint about 9am on Thursday.
"We have acted very swiftly and decisively, I'm taking it very seriously and the candidate has been stood down," Ms Ratnam told ABC radio on Friday.
"Our campaign activity in the seat of Sandringham has ceased and there will be no further campaign activities in that seat."
The woman has asked to remain anonymous and Ms Ratnam said the party has respected that confidence and encouraged that the matter be referred to authorities.
She said it was appropriate to name the candidate at the centre of allegations to avoid voter confusion.
"Voters need to have confidence and we think for that confidence and clarity it is important that we need to share that information," she said.
Mr Phillips has previously been reported to have "liked" Facebook pages that are degrading to women and racist.
The pages Mr Phillips "liked" included "Period Pains, Try waiting for your porn to download," "Twinkle twinkle little slut, name one guy you haven't f--ked" and "I'd swim in the ocean for you ... LOL jks, id get my turban wet [sic]", according to the ABC.
However, Ms Ratnam said it was important to distinguish the online activity of a young teenager versus the serious allegations of sexual assault made on Thursday.
"Each of these matters has to be considered in their context," she told ABC radio.
It is not the first time scandal has hit the minor party.
Upper house candidate Joanna Nilson resigned over a series of embarrassing Facebook posts, and it was later revealed Footscray candidate Angus McAlpine had previously released rap music including misogynistic lyrics detailing date rape.
Party staffer Paul McMillan quit after making social media jokes about Islam, pedophilia and sexist slurs.
