Commentator Mike Carlton slammed over reaction to body image campaigner Taryn Brumfitt being named 2023 Australian of the Year

Ms Brumfitt was awarded the honour overnight for her tireless work in teaching people worldwide to love and embrace their bodies.

Carlton took to Twitter shortly after the accolade was announced, sharing an article on Ms Brumfitt’s gong along with the simple caption of, “Who???”.

The tweet caused an immediate reaction, with Carlton later going on to outline who he would have preferred to see recognised as Australian of the Year.

“My Australian of the Year would be a doctor or nurse working nights in intensive care or the ED, dealing with COVID and daily death. Real, compassionate work. For very little money,” he tweeted.

“NOT someone who makes a buck out of saying it’s ok to be a bit fat. Good night.”

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While some said they understood Carlton’s point about recognising health workers, others defended the importance of Ms Brumfitt’s work.

“I take your point about health workers, but eating disorders are a huge and underreported health issue and your take both misrepresents and diminishes Taryn Brunfitt’s work and the importance of what she does, especially (but not exclusively) for young women,” Author Andrew P Smith wrote.

Journalist Catherine Marshall also leapt in to defend Ms Brumfitt replying: “Fat-shaming is going to be the least of Brumfitt’s worries this year. She certainly has her work cut out for her – let’s hope the men (and it’s mainly men) of Twitter listen, learn and pledge to do better.”

Former Greens candidate Sonya Semmens earlier hit out at Carlton’s “who” tweet.

“A person striving to improve the lives of over half our population (albeit not your half), 91 per cent of whom were struggling with this issue, of whom 1 million consequently have a mental illness with the highest mortality rate of all. That’s who. Or just google her & watch the video,” she replied.

Another added: “Maybe not your generation. Plus why does Australian of the year have to be well known/ famous to everyone. The point of it is that they have worked hard and achieved a lot for the community.”

“I hadn’t heard of Taryn either. She sounds impressive, her message is an important one, and likely to be improving and saving lives, through positively building acceptance of self and body image… Great choice me thinks!,” a third replied.

Some also pointed out they were unaware of last year’s Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott, before he won the award and said he had brought huge coverage to disabilities since being recognised.

Carlton seemingly addressed the criticism on Thursday morning by revealing he had begun blocking several accounts.

“Must have blocked around sixty morons of one sort or another in the last 24 hours.  But it’s a sunny day and I have better things to do,” he wrote.

Ms Brumfitt told Sky News Australia she felt like she was on “cloud nine” after being recognised as the Australian of the Year.

“I’m so excited to have this opportunity to talk about a subject that’s so important. We need to get it right for our kids and for everybody across Australia,” she told host Peter Stefanovic on Thursday morning.

“We’ve done a really good job from the ground up. We’ve reached over 200 million people globally.”

Ms Brumfitt leads Body Image Movement, an organisation which teaches people to love and appreciate their bodies.

She is set to roll out her Embrace Kids program in Australian schools which will be accompanied by a documentary aimed at children.

Her journey to body image advocacy began when she shared a before and after picture of her on social media – one in her body-building era and the other post-children – which prompted an overwhelming response from women worldwide.