Wipeout! Top Aussie minister injures shoulder surfing

Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong was less than stoked Monday as she turned up for a cabinet meeting sporting a sling after injuring herself surfing.

The 53-year-old took her seat next to the centre-left prime minister Anthony Albanese with her right armed cradled in a navy support, before turning to Twitter to explain what had happened.

"Thank you to those who have expressed concern," she said. "In short - Penny v Surfboard and Surfboard won."

A spokeswoman confirmed the Malaysia-born minister had "injured her shoulder surfing last week" but did not go into detail about the slip up in the swell.

An estimated 2.5 million Australians -- about ten percent of the total population -- surf regularly, so it is hardly surprising that there are some boardriders in the government's ranks.

And Wong is not the only prominent politician to have a paddle.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott and former US presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard have been known to longboard.

Current US senator for Hawaii Brian Schatz has been seen body surfing a dumping shorebreak in Oahu.

But they, and Wong, have a while to go before matching Uruguay's president Luis Lacalle Pou.

He is regularly seen shredding overhead-plus waves and getting barrelled on the country's Atlantic coast.