Scott Morrison wants the Liberal Party to improve how it vets people who want to run for federal parliament, as two of its candidates stood aside over questionable remarks.
But the prime minister has dismissed as "absolute nonsense" Labor's claims his party is riddled with right-wing extremists as the election campaign hits its messy middle.
Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Wills Peter Killin resigned within hours of apologising for a series of homophobic statements.
In the comments section of a blog in December, Mr Killin lamented that he was not at the preselection for fellow Liberal Tim Wilson so he could have ensured there was "no homosexual MP".
He also made a submission to the Ruddock review into religious freedom in which he wrote about the "dangers" posed by gay people.
Earlier in the day, the Liberals dumped Victorian candidate for Isaacs Jeremy Hearn over an anti-Islam rant in the comments section of an online magazine article.
Mr Morrison said he hoped the Liberal party updated its vetting processes to consider the era of social media.
"This is something that I will be expecting the party to be working on and improving their processes," he told reporters in Perth.
Labor was also stung with candidate issues on Wednesday, with its pick for the seat of Melbourne Luke Creasey apologising for sharing a rape joke and pornographic material on his Facebook page in 2012.
Mr Creasey, who is not standing down, admitted the posts were "stupid" and "immature" and don't reflect the views he holds today.
Labor had also dumped NT Senate candidate Wayne Kurnoth on Monday after he had shared anti-semitic conspiracy theories that the world is run by a secret society of Jewish shape-shifting lizards.
Mr Kurnoth also posted an image of Malcolm Turnbull beheading ABC journalist Emma Alberici and making offensive remarks about former MP Natasha Griggs.
The Liberal Party has also been fending off Labor's claims it is rife with extremists, as two sitting government MPs are at odds over whether they spoke to a far-right extremist at a rally a year ago.
Neil Erikson, who was convicted and fined for inciting contempt and ridicule of Muslims and has been banned from Twitter and Facebook, claims he met West Australian Liberal MPs Ian Goodenough and Andrew Hastie at a 2018 Perth rally in support of white South African farmers.
While Mr Goodenough says there was a brief inadvertent encounter and didn't know who Mr Erikson was, Mr Hastie is confident he didn't meet him.
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said her party was facing off with a "coalition of creeps, crackpots and cranks".
The prime minister said the claim his party is full of right-wing extremists was "absolute nonsense".
Mr Morrison was in Perth to announce $16 million for a new soccer training centre and $10 million to help seniors combat loneliness.
Mr Shorten campaigned in South Australia on his plan to create a new renewable energy zone in the state, if Labor wins government on May 18.
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