Terry Campese has withdrawn as the Labor candidate for Monaro, declaring that he does not want his past to be dragged through the media.
It comes after a series of revelations from The Daily Telegraph, including that the former NRL star visited his close friend and convicted drug dealer Adam Hunter in jail to raise funds for his youth charity.
Mr Campese denied using charity resources to meet with his mate.
In a statement released on Friday morning, Mr Campese said that he was pulling out of the election race.
“Today I’m announcing that I will step down as Labor’s candidate. Not because my heart isn’t in it but because I love this community too much to drag it through the media - whether they are truthful or not,” he said.