Figures from the National Tidal Centre show sea levels along Western Australia's coast are rising at a rate double that of the world average.

Global sea levels rise at an average of just more than 3 millimetres a year.

Latest figures show sea levels have risen an average 8.6 millimetres a year off Perth and 8.1 millimetres in the Kimberley.

The Opposition's spokeswoman for regional development, Alannah MacTiernan says future planning needs to consider rising sea levels.

"Our planning policies have been actually based on the global averages and now that we see from these figures the sea level rise in WA is more than twice that," she said.

"I think we've got to take some urgent action.

"We need to look at what we need to do to protect existing housing and infrastructure and what we need to do to prevent development in vulnerable areas."