The 2023 Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt has vowed to use her new platform to share her body positive message with one million school children in the next 12 months.
The South Australian documentary maker and body image activist said she wanted to shift the way people - young and old - think about the way they look.
"We need to get this right for every Australian, especially our children," she told ABC News on Thursday.
"We've got 28,000 days on the planet - if we're really lucky - and the time is now to have a national conversation about how we feel about our bodies, because it's not our life's purpose to be at war with it."
Ms Brumfitt wants school curriculums to include body positivity lessons and resources to ensure children learn how to love their bodies from an early age.
"We're saying to the government of Australia, policymakers, lawmakers: we know what to do to fix this issue of body image," she said.
"Let us help you and let us help every Australian."
The writer and director was honoured for her work leading the Body Image Movement, which aims to teach people to love the skin they're in.
Her 2016 documentary Embrace, which has been seen by millions around the world, explored why women hated their bodies as well as her own journey of acceptance.
That work led to a companion documentary for children, as well as parenting books and research hubs on the subject.
Another project Ms Brumfitt hopes to tackle is the final film in the Embrace trilogy about male body positivity.
She said men needed to be included in the movement as they also faced body image challenges.
"This is an issue for everybody, globally," she told ABC Radio in a separate interview.
"We weren't born into the world hating our bodies. It's something the world has taught us."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian of the Year honour was perfectly timed.
"Unfortunately it must be said we all know people who have been impacted by body-image issues, some in the most drastic way possible," Mr Albanese said at the awards ceremony on Wednesday night.
"Taryn will make an enormous difference, just as Dylan Alcott has been an extraordinary Australian of the Year over the last 12 months."
Other winners included Indigenous activist Tom Calma, who took out Senior Australian of the Year, while Socceroo and refugee advocate Awe Mabil was named Young Australian of the Year and Turbans 4 Australia founder Amar Singh received the Local Hero award.
© AAP 2023