A group of MPs and concerned parents are pushing for a ban on a child beauty pageant which American organisers are preparing to bring to Sydney.

The Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant, made famous in the reality TV show Toddlers And Tiaras, is travelling from Texas in June so Australian children can compete in formal wear, photogenic and congeniality contests.

Entrants must pay a minimum of $295 so their children, sprinkled in glitter and rhinestones, can strut their stuff on stage and sing to a panel of judges.

But if New South Wales Labor MP Jill Hall succeeds in her plan, she would put an end to child beauty pageants altogether.

Federal Labor MP Anna Burke is supporting the private members bill and calling for a national ban on the event.

"Dressing them up, fake tans, fake teeth known as flippers, even fake boobs and bums on three-year-olds is a bit of a ridiculous situation," she said.

"It's really calling into question, do we actually want to promote this in Australia?"

The City of Darebin hosted the Melbourne event last July and says it is now reviewing its venue hire policy because of the community uproar it provoked.

Council spokesman Daniel Freer says he is conducting community consultation.

"We certainly had a number of people that expressed their outrage and concern and a whole range of negative comment about the event," he said.

"Then we also experienced a number of people that were quite pleased that council allowed it to happen in one of council's facilities... saying they're right for their children to be involved in these sorts of activities and they're quite enthusiastic about their involvement in those activities."

'Supportive community'

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Carmen Powell, a mother and a member of Pageants Australia, says her daughter Paige won the age-16 section at last year's Universal Royalty Pageant in Melbourne.

She says the pageants provide a fantastic supportive community for her daughter.

"It's an extension of a performing arts platform really. It's a stage opportunity," she said.

"It's also the opportunity depending on what the pageant offers, they have options of public speaking and also they just love the outfits, aspiring to wear certain garments, designing them and displaying them.

"It also helps in their modelling, their deportment, their stage presence, their confidence, which then travels over into everyday life - when they apply for a job or how they conduct themselves in their jobs."

Impact

But those campaigning against the pageants, including Pull The Pin organiser Catherine Manning, are strengthening their efforts against the event coming to Sydney.

"I think the Sydney pageant will be a bit of a test for them," she said.

"Hopefully we'll have sent them packing and sent a very clear message to those other people who have sprung up on the coat-tails of Universal Royalty here in Australia that we really don't want this type of pageant culture for our kids.

"I always ask people, would you stand your two daughters side by side in the lounge room and tell one of them that she's more beautiful than the other?

"For most people that's a resounding no, and the reason is obviously not just because of the impact you have on the girl that you tell isn't the most beautiful, but you're also sending a really strange message to the girl that you tell is the most beautiful.

"I think that they get so many cultural messages about female beauty through advertising in the media, it's quite relentless."

Universal Royalty Pageant organiser Annette Hill did not respond to interview requests, but she did tell the ABC she was very excited about returning to Australia and had a few surprises prepared.

The pageant will be held in Sydney on June 16.