Sports minister and deputy leader of the Nationals Bridget McKenzie has been slammed online after a controversial photo surfaced of her puffing her cheeks and holding her belly outside the National Obesity Summit.

The Victorian Senator attended the summit held by the Australian Government in Canberra on Friday February 15.

Ms McKenzie, Minister for Regional Services, Sport, Local Government and Decentralisation, was snapped in front of a banner for the event appearing to mock an overweight person.

Sports minister and deputy leader of the Nationals Bridget McKenzie has been slammed online after a controversial photo surfaced (pictured)

The picture was shared to Twitter and was met with outrage by disappointed voters.

'And it's people like this poor excuse for a leader, who are charged with running the country. Just bring on the election,' wrote one viewer.

'Grow up Senator. It's no joke,' tweeted another.

One viewer claimed the Liberal National party was causing strife with numerous portions of the population.

'LNP busy offending as many people as they possibly can before the election,' they wrote.

'Poor people, union members, refugees, Africans, Muslims, small farmers and now fat people, who make up 60% of the population.'

Ms McKenzie responded to the picture shared on Twitter in a bid to justify her physical display

The Victorian Senator attended the summit held by the Australian Government in Canberra on Friday February 15

The purpose of the summit was to bring together experts in obesity to discuss the factors that lead to being overweight and obese.

The attendees would then identify and agree on priority areas for action.

Ms McKenzie responded to the picture shared on Twitter in a bid to justify her physical display.

'The issue of obesity is a matter I take very seriously and would never triavisie it- or to add in any way to stigmatisation,' the senator wrote.

'I sincerely apologise for this very unfortunate photo taken as I demonstrated how my stomach felt after scrambled eggs reacted w(ith) yogurt I had just eaten.'

The embattled senator made headlines earlier in the month following revelations she charged taxpayers $20,000 for a private jet to watch an ice hockey game.

The embattled senator made headlines earlier in the month following revelations she charged taxpayers $20,000 for a private jet to watch an ice hockey game (pictured)

Senator McKenzie ran up a huge taxpayer bill in May last year so she could fly direct from Rockhampton to Melbourne aboard a RAAF military plane.

The 1,700 kilometre flight from an ultra-marginal seat in central Queensland to the Victorian capital, so the minister could watch the Melbourne Mustangs play, cost the public purse $19,942 with taxpayers also footing a $500 Commonwealth car bill to get her from the airport.

Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching called for her resignation on Twitter following the exposure of the flight costs.

'Bridget McKenzie should express regret, repay and resign,' she wrote.

In 2017-18, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that two thirds (67 per cent) of Australian adults, a total of 12.5 million people, were overweight or obese.

The statistics also showed that almost one quarter (24.9 per cent) of children aged 5-17 were also overweight or obese.