"I think Luke Foley should carefully consider his position," Mr Daley said. "If I'm the leader of the Labor Party, I don't want Luke Foley in my ranks." Mr Foley quit as leader of the opposition on Thursday night after Ms Raper released a statement claiming he put his hand inside her underwear at a 2016 parliamentary Christmas after-party in Sydney's CBD. Mr Foley vehemently denied the allegations when he announced his resignation, and said he planned to launch defamation proceedings in the Federal Court. Luke Foley, flanked by Michael Daley, making a transport policy announcement on Thursday morning, before resigning in the evening. Credit:Janie Barrett

Ms Raper gave her version of the alleged drunken behaviour after Liberal MP David Elliott raised the issue in the NSW Parliament under parliamentary privilege last month. "He stood next to me. He put his hand through a gap in the back of my dress and inside my underpants. He rested his hand on my buttocks. I completely froze," she alleged. Mr Daley on Friday said he was "very unhappy" with his former leader's press conference and threw his support behind Ms Raper. "We're all thinking of Ashleigh," he told reporters outside his home. "She did the right thing, she did the brave thing. We're all thinking of her. She's the most important person at the moment."

He said politics in NSW had reached a "low ebb" and called on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to join him in saying Parliament needed to raise its standards. ABC journalist Ashleigh Raper (inset) released an explosive statement containing allegations against former NSW opposition leader Luke Foley. Credit:AAP, Twitter "We certainly can't have women being treated the way they are. We can't have anyone treated the way we saw the 'bear-pit' Parliament acting in the last couple of weeks," he said. "There has to be a reset button." Mr Daley confirmed he will throw his hat into the ring for the leadership at a caucus meeting on Saturday.

Loading "I'll outline that I'll be asking for my colleagues' support," he said. Meanwhile, federal MPs on both sides of politics have questioned Mr Foley's plan to sue over the allegations. Federal Labor frontbencher Ed Husic said it would be "very tricky" for him to remain in Parliament on the backbench while fighting the matter in court. "He is going to have to make a choice on that, but I think it will be very tough for him looking at what has transpired and the likelihood of a legal case," Mr Husic told Nine Network on Friday.

Loading "Frankly, I don't think the person at the heart of it - Ashleigh - should have to go through [a protracted legal case]." Federal cabinet minister Christopher Pyne said it was a bad situation. "It is unfortunate Luke Foley is suing the ABC for defamation. He must think he has a case and good luck to him, but that is just going to keep extending it," he said. Mr Pyne refused to call on Mr Elliott to apologise for raising the matter in Parliament, saying the Corrections Minister had to answer for his own decisions.

Loading Mr Elliott has remained silent since Ms Raper's statement was released. On Thursday evening, federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said Mr Foley's alleged behaviour "cannot be tolerated". "The behaviour that Ashleigh described is clearly improper, inappropriate, it cannot be tolerated," Mr Shorten told ABC radio in Perth. "Modern society has no tolerance for the behaviour which she described."

Loading Mr Shorten said the journalist deserved respect and the privacy she had asked for in her statement. "Whatever the details, Ashleigh, I think, needs, deserves, our support and understanding at this time," he said. "Considering the behaviour described - and what has happened hasn’t respected her wishes - I think something the rest of us can do is treat her with some respect." NSW detectives have contacted ABC management saying they stood ready to investigate should Ms Raper make a formal complaint.