G20 protesters bury heads in the sand on Bondi Beach

More than 200 protesters buried their heads in the sands of Bondi Beach on Thursday in a demonstration over climate change inaction.

The protest came as world leaders began arriving in Australia ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane at the weekend.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been criticised for not including talks on climate change in the summit.

Since coming to power, Mr Abbott has axed a carbon tax and overseen a 70% fall in investment in renewable energy.

Eden Tehan, one of the protest's organisers told reporters that Mr Abbott's "refusal to include climate change on the G20 agenda" showed that he had his head buried in the sand on "the most important issue of our time".

"We want to tell world leaders coming for the G20 that Tony Abbott does not represent the view of most Australians who want to see urgent and global action on climate change," Mr Tehan added.

The G20 attendees, which will include the leaders of the US, China, India, Russia, Britain and Germany, meet in Brisbane on Saturday for the two-day summit.

Correspondents say Mr Abbott wants to use his presidency of the G20 group this year to focus discussions on the global economy and job creation.

The demonstrators said Mr Abbott "does not represent the view of most Australians" on climate change