India's “Million Homes” Proposal for Australia: A Recipe for Disaster, Modern Colonisation, or Both? By Brian Simpson

If you've been scrolling through the news feeds lately, you've probably caught wind of the eyebrow-raising story about India proposing to swoop in and "fix" Australia's housing crisis. The pitch? India wants to build a million homes Down Under, potentially bankrolled by a hefty sum from the UAE, and send a million skilled and unskilled workers to Australia for on-the-job training in the building trades. It's a bold plan to tackle the housing shortage head-on, or so it seems.

There's been plenty of chatter online about whether this is legit or just diplomatic hot air. For this post, let's assume it's true and dive into why this idea might be less of a lifeline and more of a logistical nightmare, or worse, a neo-colonial power play dressed up as charity. Buckle up, because this proposal doesn't hold up under scrutiny, and it smells suspiciously like a modern-day land grab. Let's break it down, starting with the chaos it could unleash on Australia's already strained housing market.

Scenario 1: The Million-Man March – Instant Crisis Overload

Imagine this: One million Indian workers land in Australia all at once, ready to hammer away at the housing backlog. Sounds like a quick fix, right? Wrong. Australia's housing crisis is already a powder keg, record-low vacancy rates, skyrocketing rents, and home prices that have locked out entire generations. The country is short tens of thousands of homes annually just to keep up with demand, and that's without adding a million new residents to the mix. Flood the nation with that many people overnight, and the demand for housing doesn't just grow, it explodes.

These workers need somewhere to live. Temporary barracks? Shared rentals? Good luck finding those without displacing locals or driving prices even higher. Construction might ramp up, but the immediate effect would be a rental market meltdown, pushing out families, essential workers, and the vulnerable. Homelessness, already a growing issue, would spike as affordable options vanish. Then there's the strain on infrastructure, water, power, transport, all groaning under the added weight. Instead of solving the housing crisis, this plan would turn it into a full-blown catastrophe.

Scenario 2: Batches of Builders – A Slower Burn, But Still a Fizzle

Okay, maybe the diplomats aren't that reckless. Let's say they phase it in: 100,000 workers here, 200,000 there, spread over years to "ease" the transition. Problem solved? Not even close. Even in batches, these trainees need homes while learning Aussie building codes and safety standards. Training isn't a classroom gig; it's hands-on, on-site work in the very cities desperate for housing.

Take Sydney or Melbourne, the epicentres of the crisis. Build times are already stretched thin by labour shortages and red tape. Bringing in waves of workers means bringing their housing needs too. Where do they stay? Motels? Converted warehouses? Each batch tightens the rental market further, with no immediate relief, since new homes take 12-18 months (or longer) to finish. By the time the first group is trained and building, the housing deficit has only grown deeper because of the added population. It's like bailing out a sinking ship by inviting more passengers aboard in shifts, logical only if you want to sink faster.

Then there's the human cost. These workers, many unskilled, aren't just labour units. They're people uprooted from families, navigating a new culture, and potentially facing exploitation in an industry already plagued by wage theft and poor conditions. Adding international labor to the mix could spark strikes, delays, and even more backlog, making the crisis worse, not better.

The Smarter Path: Train the Locals Who Already Call Australia Home

If the goal is to boost building capacity, why not invest in the people already here? Australia has a huge pool of underemployed or sidelined workers, apprentices hit hard by the pandemic, migrants with transferable skills, or locals turned off by the construction industry's tough reputation. Scaling up domestic training through programs like TAFE or government incentives could churn out thousands of builders without the logistical mess of mass importation.

Locals already have housing (or at least access to it), so they don't add to the crisis, they help fix it. Pair that with streamlining approvals, fixing supply chain bottlenecks for materials, and pushing modular or prefab construction, and you'd see real progress. Importing labor from India might sound like a shortcut, but it's a band-aid on a broken system. Training Aussies builds long-term resilience, creates lasting jobs, and sidesteps the social tensions of sudden demographic shifts. It's not flashy geopolitics, but it works.

Echoes of the Past: This Feels Like Multifunction Polis 2.0

Zoom out, and this proposal starts looking like history repeating itself with a shiny new coat of paint. Remember the Multifunction Polis (MFP) fiasco of the late 1980s and early 1990s? Japan, riding high on its economic boom, pitched a futuristic city in South Australia, a self-contained enclave for aging Japanese retirees, packed with high-tech amenities and Japanese-style governance. It was sold as an economic win: jobs, investment, cultural exchange. But Aussies saw through it. Critics called it a "colonisation project," a foreign outpost that would hoard land and erode sovereignty. The plan tanked amid public backlash, xenophobia, and economic shifts, but not before exposing Australia's fears of being economically overrun by Asia's rising powers.

Now, in 2025, India's million-homes plan feels like MFP 2.0. A foreign power (with UAE cash) snapping up land to build enclaves of homes, staffed by their own workforce? It's not retirees this time, but builders, yet the vibe is the same: Vast swaths of Australian soil transformed into extensions of Indian or Emirati influence. Who owns these million homes once they're built? Are they sold to locals at inflated prices or reserved for expat communities? The plan's silence on ownership and long-term control raises red flags. In a world wary of Belt and Road-style moves, this could be less about housing and more about securing strategic footholds, exporting labor today, importing capital tomorrow.

Wrapping It Up: A Proposal That Builds Walls, Not Homes

If this India-Australia deal is for real, it's a bold swing that misses the mark by a mile. Whether dumped all at once or trickled in, a million imported workers would only inflate the housing bubble they're meant to pop. Training locals is the smarter, fairer fix, building self-reliance over dependency. And let's not kid ourselves: This smells like a modern twist on colonial ambitions, echoing the Multifunction Polis, where "help" comes with strings that could tie up Australia's future.