Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has re-ignited a nationwide controversy over nude depictions of children in art photography, the BBC reports.

A few months after an exhibition of pictures of naked children by photographer Bill Henson was closed before it opened, provoking a prolonged debate over censorship, the prime minister criticized the July cover of Art Monthly Australia, which shows a 2003 image by Melbourne photographer Polixeni Papapetrou of her daughter, who was then six years old.

"Frankly, I can't stand this stuff," said Rudd, adding: "We're talking about the innocence of little children here. A little child cannot answer for themselves about whether they wish to be depicted in this way."

The prime minister found support for his position from the political opposition, as Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson described the image as a "two-fingered salute to the rest of society".

Art Monthly Australia editor Maurice O'Riordan evidently knew that the image would be provocative. He wrote in the July magazine that he hoped to "restore some dignity to the debate [about nude depictions of children in art]... and validate nudity and childhood as subjects for art.”

The subject of the photograph, Olympia Nelson, now 11, also defended the work, which shows her sitting naked in front of a painted landscape. Appearing at a press conference with her father, the art critic Robert Nelson, she said, "I love the photo so much. I think that the picture my mum took of me had nothing to do with being abused and I think nudity can be a part of art."