Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been caught texting while driving in Melbourne.

The Herald Sun has obtained a video of him clearly using his phone while driving along a road at 40 km per hour after dropping off his children at music.

Mr Shorten said in a statement he did not recall why he was using his phone but admitted he shouldn’t have been doing it.

“Like most drivers, I always try to do the right thing,” Mr Shorten said.

“But there’s no doubt that using your phone while driving is the wrong thing to do — there’s no excuse for it. I shouldn’t have done it and won’t do it again.”

The witness who filmed the video — taken at 11.07am on August 23 — said he first noticed the white 4WD when it failed to take off when a traffic light turned green.  

He then took out his phone to film the car after watching it swerve between lanes in front of him, driving at a slow speed that was frustrating other drivers. “He was driving all over the place,” the witness told the Herald Sun. He realised Mr Shorten was behind the wheel as he passed the car while filming.

“He’s one of our leaders … he should be setting an example,” he said.

The witness said he decided to come forward after hearing about Mr Shorten’s other accident. Bill Shorten was recently in the press for driving into a number of parked cars in a suburban street in Melbourne on his way to a press conference.

The penalty for using a mobile phone while driving is a $443 fine and four demerit points. Bill Shorten’s driving misdemeanours are elevating him to the disturbing level of celebrity dangerous drivers.

The reaction from the public has not been good.

Especially in light of recent self-inflicted accident:

Still, there’s just one more question to ask: