The Greens candidate for the Melbourne seat of Lalor has become the latest candidate to quit over offensive social media posts.

Key points: Mr Dessi joked about having sex with a ghost and made a racist joke about an Asian friend

Mr Dessi joked about having sex with a ghost and made a racist joke about an Asian friend He has apologised for any offence he caused and stepped down as the Greens candidate

He has apologised for any offence he caused and stepped down as the Greens candidate Greens leader Richard Di Natale says the posts were "clearly unacceptable"

Jay Dessi came under fire for distasteful posts on Facebook, in which he joked about having sex with a ghost and made a racist joke about an Asian friend.

Mr Dessi released a statement apologising for the remarks.

"I am electing to step down from being the Greens candidate for the division of Lalor," he said.

"I again apologise for offence that my posts may have caused."

A spokesperson for the Victorian Greens also apologised for not picking up on the comments from several years ago.

The party said the election had made it clear that social media had created "new challenges" for all parties during the candidate selection process.

"Particularly for younger candidates who have grown up using social media," a spokesperson said.

Party leader Richard Di Natale called the comments "clearly unacceptable". ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )

"Following the Victorian election, the Australian Greens provided additional resources to state parties to assist in the vetting of social media profiles.

"As a grassroots organisation, we do rely upon the assistance of candidates during this process.

"In this instance, some unsavoury comments from several years ago were not identified."

Greens Leader Richard Di Natalie said the posts were "clearly unacceptable".

The seat of Lalor in Melbourne's outer south-west suburbs is considered a very safe Labor seat and is currently held by Joanne Ryan by a margin of 14.2 per cent.

Mr Dessi is the latest in a string of election candidates to pull out of the contest.

Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan resigned after making anti-Muslim posts online, One Nation's Steve Dickson quit the party over a strip club scandal, and Labor NT Senate candidate Wayne Kurnorth was disendorsed over anti-Semitic posts.

The Labor candidate for Melbourne Luke Creasey also withdrew from the race because of social media posts joking about rape.

Other candidates who have quit before the poll include Jeremy Hearn who was the Liberal candidate in Isaacs, and Peter Killin, the Liberal candidate for Wills.