Australia’s bigger pipeline owner, APA Group, says it would not be in the national interest for rival bidder Canada’s Brookfield to snare AusNet, arguing it is best placed to create a national energy infrastructure champion that can help steer the country to net zero.

“If AusNet goes private, as it would under the alternative proposal from Brookfield, effectively what we’ll see is that all of the high-voltage transmission electricity infrastructure in the two biggest states on the east coast, Victoria and New South Wales, will be foreign controlled,” APA Group chief executive Rob Wheals told The Australian Financial Review ahead of the pipeline giant’s annual general meeting on Thursday.