Australia has the best surfing beaches on the planet.

WE'VE proudly boasted about it for years but now the world's experts have agreed - Australia has the best surfing beaches on the planet.

The acknowledgment came from an international gathering of scientists, legislators, environmentalists and surfers at the Global Wave Conference in France this week.

"Australia has long been regarded as having many great beaches," National Surfing Reserves chairman Brad Farmer, who's attending the conference, said yesterday. "Now this conference is recognising Australia's 10,000 plus beaches as the world's best."

Four times world professional surfing champion Mark Richards, from Newcastle, said the world's biggest island was blessed by a coastline which offered something for every wave rider.

"Except for the Northern Territory - and even there they surf in Darwin when cyclones make waves - every state has just so many waves," Mr Richards said. "There is something for everyone on our coast. You can be a raw beginner and easily find non-threatening warm little waves or you can challenge yourself to big, gnarly, thick-lipped cold slabs of water.

"And the coast itself is so varied; beaches with yellow sand, beaches with white sand, beaches backed by high cliffs or beaches backed by amazing dunes. The surf writer Tim Baker got it right when he said India has the Taj Mahal, Paris has the Eiffel Tower, London has Big Ben but Australia's iconic symbol is its beaches."

Surfing Australia CEO Andrew Stark said many other countries, even those with long coastlines, had only small stretches where there were waves.

"Even places like Hawaii and Indonesia have relatively small coasts where rideable waves happen," he said.

"Then you can add amazing water quality in most beaches here - there's a reason we have the world's biggest learn-to-surf industry."

Mr Farmer, founder of the organisation he represents, is lobbying for the establishment of a ministry for coasts in Australia to help protect beaches.

"The world is looking to Australia to manage and protect beaches."