House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-03 Daily Xml

Contents

Indian Housing Plan

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:51): My question is to the Minister for Planning. Is the government in any form of negotiations with the Indian government over its plans to build one million houses in Australia at a cost of $500 billion? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr WHETSTONE: The highly respected newspaper, The Economic Times, has reported that the Indian government's union minister, Piyush Goyal, has stated he is in deep negotiation with his counterpart in Australia to create one million homes in Australia. He went one step further, saying India is proposing to allow Indian workers to get trained in Australia on the necessary skill set required to build those homes.

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (14:52): I thank the member for his question. He did alert me to it yesterday, that there are news reports, and I had seen them—I think they were in the Daily Mail and a few other publications of repute—but I have not been briefed on or have any knowledge of any such proposal. I will ask my department just to be sure—I will take it on notice—but to the best of my knowledge, no.