First published 16 Nov 2026, 4:30am
A controversial Melbourne plan for a “Little India” precinct comes at a striking national moment, with new figures showing Indian-born residents have overtaken the English as Australia’s largest foreign-born population.
The City of Melbourne is pushing ahead with plans for a $1.2 million Little India precinct in Docklands, despite a wave of criticism from locals who fear the waterfront suburb could be turned into a tourist-focused “themed precinct”.
The proposal, first unveiled in the council’s draft 2026-27 budget and unanimously backed by councillors, would create a dedicated cultural hub featuring spaces for events, community services, markets, festivals, sport and recreation, along with retail and dining experiences.
A similar site, established in 2023, already exists in Harris Park in Sydney’s west.
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City of Melbourne hopes to launch a trial activation of the proposed Little India precinct in Docklands in early 2027.
Docklands, which has a median unit price of $569,444, was identified as the preferred location because of its transport links, open space, community infrastructure and business opportunities.
Council is considering a mix of the District Docklands Precinct, New Quay Park, Docklands Drive and Ron Barassi Snr Park as possible sites.
But what was pitched as a celebration of culture has already sparked a sharp backlash.
Docklands residents, who began receiving letters last month inviting feedback on the proposal, have voiced concern the plan is less about community-building and more about branding the suburb for visitors.
“(It) risks turning Docklands into somewhere people visit occasionally, rather than a place people belong,” one local said during consultation on the budget earlier this year.
The proposed site for Melbourne’s Little India.
Some online went further, suggesting the community engagement process was little more than window dressing.
“Let’s be honest here, the decision has well and truly been made. The contracts have been signed, the money put aside and the planning approvals completed. This is just theatre,” one X user wrote.
Another added: “(It’s) the formal process before they ignore the feedback and go ahead with their plans anyway.”
The council received 129 responses on the proposal as part of consultation on the 2026-27 budget, with many objections coming from Docklands residents worried the suburb would lose its identity to a curated cultural destination.
A letter inviting Docklands residents to submit their feedback. Picture: @AusExplained/X
“Please absolutely NO to a little India … (redacted) please leave Melbourne as Melbourne,” one read.
Another local wrote, “I am SHOCKED at the need of having a Little India precinct here. Seriously what the (redacted) are y’all thinking. We have enough of Indian precincts in Tarneit, Point Cook, Clayton, etc. Why is there a need to have this in Docklands? Should be spending it for AFL you bunch of (redacted).”
Yet others have argued the opposite — that the idea is worthy, but the budget falls well short.
Federation of Indian Associations in Victoria president Vasan Srinivasan, who has campaigned for a permanent Indian cultural space for almost two decades, said the funding should be “at least tenfold” higher if the precinct is to succeed in the long term.
“It’s not going to harm anyone and it will bring more people to the city,” he told the Daily Mail.
Thousands packed Marvel Stadium in July to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is pictured with Anthony Albanese at the event
Mr Srinivasan said Melbourne was the natural home for such a precinct, describing it as a multicultural capital and arguing the site needed to be close to the CBD to mirror the success of global Indian cultural hubs such as Southall in London, Singapore’s Little India and Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur.
The debate is unfolding as Australia’s population story shifts.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released in April show India-born residents were estimated to number 971,020 as at June 30, 2025, narrowly edging past England-born residents at 970,950.
Just a year earlier, England-born residents still held the lead, with 963,560 compared with 916,330 people born in India.
Melbourne and greater Victoria, meanwhile, are home to Australia’s largest Indian diaspora, with estimates putting the number of residents of Indian birth or ancestry across the metropolitan area and state at between 258,000 and 370,000.
Fresh Foreign Investment Review Board figures also show Indian buyers ranked among the top five foreign investors in Australian housing last financial year, recording $200 million in approved residential investment, behind China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
All considered, it’s unsurprising the proposal has attracted political criticism.
United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, who describes himself as a Christian nationalist, blasted the idea of a Little India as “cooked”.
“There shouldn’t be little anything in Australia. If you want to maintain the culture of the nation you left then, just stay there,” he said.
“No Little India, no Little Italy, no Little Greece, no Little Mozambique, no Little Sweden, nothing. Australia first.”
A City of Melbourne spokesman said the proposal would not progress until a report on feedback from the current consultation period came back to council in February.
If it goes ahead, the Docklands precinct would join a long line of cultural enclaves already woven into Australia’s urban identity.
Melbourne is already home to the nation’s oldest Chinatown, established in 1851 during the Victorian gold rush, as well as the city’s longstanding Greek precinct along Lonsdale Street.
Chinatowns also exist in Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide, while South Australia is also home to the tourism village of Hahndorf, the state’s first German settlement.
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