Australians are more suspicious about foreigners owning new infrastructure than most other countries, an international survey has found.
When polling firm Ipsos asked Australians whether they supported foreign investment in new infrastructure if it meant projects could be delivered faster, only 27 per cent said yes. That was well below the global average support of 45 per cent and ranked Australia 24th out of 26 countries surveyed on that measure. Four out of 10 Australians were opposed to foreign investment in new infrastructure even if it meant projects could be delivered more quickly.
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This makes "Australians one of the least open to foreign investment" in new infrastructure, Ipsos said.
The findings follow a controversial Federal Government decision to block Chinese Government-owned State Grid Corp and Hong Kong-listed Cheung Kong Infrastructure from leasing a 50.4 per cent stake in the NSW electricity provider Ausgrid.
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Treasurer Scott Morrison said the veto was due to "national security concerns" but the decision drew strident criticism, including from the Chinese government. Last week the NSW government announced the lease would be given to a consortium of Australian investors.
The Ipsos poll found seven out of ten Australians agreed that investment in infrastructure was vital to future economic growth. The three top infrastructure priorities were motorways/major roads, rail and broadband.
But Australians are lukewarm about the overall state of national infrastructure with 33 per cent saying they were satisfied with it and 29 per cent dissatisfied. Satisfaction with infrastructure was much higher in major cities (37 per cent) than regional areas (25 per cent).
In Australia, 59 per cent of respondents agreed that "we are not doing enough" to meet our infrastructure needs - a little higher than the international average (56 per cent).
Airports were viewed most positively by Australians with 69 per cent rating them as very or fairly good. Opinion was more divided on Australia's network of motorways and major roads with 47 per cent saying it was good and 46 per cent rating it as poor. Half of respondents said they were dissatisfied with local roads.
There was qualified backing for Australian government borrowings more to fund the upgrade and expansion of infrastructure with 36 per cent in favour and 22 per cent opposed. Support for public borrowing for infrastructure investment in Australia was in line with the international average.
Respondents were strongly in favour of local communities having a say in infrastructure development.
"Australians still want their voices to be heard, with 64 per cent agreeing that delays to infrastructure projects are justified if it means that local communities' views can be heard properly," the Ipsos report said.
The survey found those in Saudi Arabia to be the most upbeat about their infrastructure with nearly two-thirds saying they were very or fairly satisfied.