Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There has recently been shock with the assessment by many in the media and in the lay public that there were overly skinny models on display at a recent fashion show, and I want to highlight the point that clearly the voluntary code of conduct in the fashion industry is foundering. This is a really important health issue, and I know that the causal links are very complex. But we know that up to a quarter of a million messages about body appearance, attractiveness and selling products are seen by females by the time they reach their teen years, and it is increasingly specifically a female issue. We know that models were eight per cent lighter than the average female in 1970; they are now 23 per cent lighter. More than 50 per cent of all advertisements now target physical attractiveness when marketing towards women, while zero per cent of advertisements marketing towards men do so. There is a complete difference.

We are asking the fashion industry to look more carefully at the image they are portraying, keeping in mind the power of these images. We do not want to rule out people having a career in modelling, but clearly a more realistic portrayal—including BMIs that are somewhere near the more normal range—would be one way of ensuring that more models of different shapes and sizes can have a career. Obviously, this is about selling clothing, and I accept that. I cannot get into the minds of the producers who put these events together, but surely having more realistic portrayal of modelling would be extraordinarily helpful, particularly with young girls. Up to 80 per cent of 10-year-olds now contemplate dieting, and in some cases bulimia, anorexia, or taking up smoking, to be lighter. For all of those reasons, we ask the modelling sector to do more.