The fashion industry has been challenged to sign up to a voluntary code of conduct that will encourage the portrayal of realistic body images.
But Youth Minister Kate Ellis has been forced to defend her choice of advisers on the matter, who include supermodel Sarah Murdoch and columnist and former Cosmopolitan editor Mia Freedman.
The proposed national strategy on body image is designed to change practices in an industry notorious for choosing waif-like models and airbrushing imperfections.
The voluntary code calls for a standardised sizing system for clothes to discourage competitive weight loss, a ''positive body image checklist'' to be made available to school students and for organisations that choose to introduce ''positive body image practices'' to be publicly recognised.
But Ms Ellis was forced to defend the women she had chosen to advise her on body image issues.
''When I appointed this particular advisory group I did so on the basis of their backgrounds and their expertise and their passions in this area,'' she said.
''I saw that there was some sniping around the fact that they were incredibly attractive women at the same time that might be true, but they are also women who have worked in the magazine industry [and] in the modelling industry.''
Deakin University academic Ross King conceded the choice of body image advisers could send mixed messages to people concerned about their body image.
''I can see why people might say that. One would hope they had been chosen for other reasons, particularly their role in media as people who have been involved in the industry for a long time,'' he said.
Ms Ellis said the report would guide the Government on how to work with industry to promote acceptance of different sizes.
''Young people rated body image as their top concern in Mission Australia's National Survey of Young Australians in 2007 and at third in 2008. It can't be ignored,'' Ms Ellis said.
Freedman said she had chosen skinny models and had images re-touched during her time as editor of Cosmopolitan decisions she later regretted.
''This is what we want the industry to know there are economic benefits to this, this isn't just an altruistic community service. We believe the public are hungry for these products and these images of diversity and that their can be real economic benefits, too,'' she said.
''It [the fashion industry] can be a bit of a bubble, you can be a bit out of touch.''
Flinders University academic Marika Tiggemann defended the choice of advisers as ''not impossibly thin in the way that digitally altered images are''.
However, she said a mandatory code of conduct would be more effective than the proposed voluntary code.
''It's a start, it's a useful thing to do. Labelling digitally altered images makes people think about things rather than just seeing the images and accepting them,'' she said.
''It is well past time for something like this body image has become a major issue for many people. It used to be just for adolescent girls, but now younger and older people, boys and men too, are also more concerned about it.''