Private foreign investors seeking to buy major state assets will have to jump new hurdles under a rule change.

The change comes in the wake of the controversial approval of the sale of the Port of Darwin to Chinese investors, which attracted criticism from Defence officials.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said several projects in the works would be covered, including Ausgrid, the Port of Melbourne, Fremantle Port and Endeavour Energy.

From March 31 the Foreign Investment Review Board will review what are known as "critical infrastructure assets" sold by state and territory governments to private investors.

That would include such things as airports, ports, public transport, electricity, gas, railways, telecommunications infrastructure and nuclear facilities.