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.

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.