Dan Repacholi says being a man to him is pretty simple.
"Work hard, look after your family and mates, treat people properly and own your mistakes," said Mr Repacholi, the federal Hunter MP.
"You can still be a bloke. You can love your footy, have a beer, take the piss and enjoy a bit of banter. But you don't have to carry on like a tool or treat people badly to prove you're a man."
Mr Repacholi's comments came as he announced the federal government will give $3 million for a research centre, called "WellMen", to support the mental health and wellbeing of boys and men.
The research program will examine the latest issues, including problems with the manosphere.
It aims to develop new mental health strategies in schools, sports clubs, online and at work.
Flinders University Professor James Smith, who will lead the centre, said there was "a deep concern that the manosphere is driving misogyny and patriarchy in ways that are unhealthy to men and girls and women".
"Gender norms around what it has meant to be a man historically are changing. Work is being done around more healthy, positive and caring forms of masculinity," Professor Smith said.
Mr Repacholi, the special envoy for men's health, said "being tough doesn't mean bottling everything up until you fall apart".
"Sometimes the toughest thing you can do is tell a mate you're struggling and ask for a hand," he said.
Mr Repacholi said "there's nothing wrong with masculinity".
"We just need to show boys that being a good man means being strong enough to stand up for people, decent enough to respect them and smart enough to ask for help when you need it," he said.
"I'm a big bloke, a former miner and an Olympic shooter, but I'm also a husband and a dad. I'm not afraid to tell the people around me that I love them."
Movember released research in May that analysed the TikTok viewing histories of 142 young men to go "inside the manosphere and the digital worlds shaping masculinity today".
Misogyny, violence glorification and suicide normalisation made up less than 6 per cent of the content.
Most of the "masculinity-related content" young men watched (37.7 per cent) involved "mainstream lifestyle and popular culture content such as sport, fitness and gaming".
"What's striking is how these manosphere ideologies show up and spread - embedded within the culturally relevant topics and trends young men care about," the research said.
Dr Zac Seidler, global director of research at Movember, wrote in May that the conversation about the manosphere involved "moral panic, political condemnation, a new name to demonise, a call for bans and then quiet until the next incident breaks through".
He said it was important to "sit with the more uncomfortable question of why this content lands, what it is answering and what it tells us about the lives of the young men consuming it".
Professor Smith said the research centre would examine these issues.
"Different men are inclined to adopt different masculine behaviours and traits. We've got to recognise that and figure out which ones are harmful and which are not," he said.
