The first people to fly into Australia after new COVID-19 testing rules for travellers from China and Hong Kong were introduced have landed.
From Thursday, people coming into the country from China, Hong Kong and Macau have to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test and provide a negative result before departing.
Cao Menghan, a Chinese Australian who has been waiting for her parents at Sydney Airport, told the ABC she was very excited for their arrival.
"My parents are coming here for the Chinese New Year," Ms Cao said.
She said it was "quite convenient" for them to have their mandatory pre-flight test in China.
"I think it is OK to take the test as it is required," she said.
"All of my friends and families had COVID already."
Ms Cao's mother told the ABC she fully understood the policy that Canberra announced last weekend.
"It is fairly easy for me to obtain the test result," she told the ABC.
"Some countries have the requirement but some other countries don't. I respect every country's rules."
Ms Cao's parents had to travel from China's eastern city of Nanjing to the southern city Xiamen, before they took the flight to Sydney.
It's the only direct flight from China to Sydney on Thursday.
Tests not discriminatory but somewhat difficult
Another passenger, Angela Li, who also travelled from Xiamen, told the ABC it was "a bit challenging" to undergo the test prior to departure.
"It is because of the difficulty of finding a hospital for the test," she said.
"Many hospitals stopped providing the service."
Ms Li has come to Australia as an investor and hoped to gain permanent residency through her work.
She didn't think the requirement of having to do a test before travelling to Australia was discriminatory.
"China has required passengers from Australia to do the test, and now Australia has required the same to passengers from China," she said.
"I think it is an international practice."
Landing in time for birth of grandchild
Liu Qisheng was at Melbourne Airport on Thursday afternoon to meet his friend, who has arrived just in time for the birth of a grandchild.
"His daughter-in-law is currently in the hospital, waiting to go into labour," he said.
"I am very excited."
He said his friend hadn't seen his son and daughter-in-law for three years, because of the border restrictions in both China and Australia.
"I am very excited. I am here to pick him up and send him to meet his son," Mr Liu said.
He explained that his friend travelled from China's southern city of Shenzheng to Hong Kong, before he came to Australia.
Tests help to protect
Venki Cheng has travelled from Hong Kong and arrived in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.
He told the ABC it was understandable that Canberra had put in the testing requirement and was "protecting its own citizens".
"I think the government still has its right to impose any restrictions," Mr Cheng said.
In Hong Kong, all COVID-related restrictions and measures — apart from masks — have been scrapped, he said.
He said that after Christmas time cases "increased a bit, but less than expected" and that overall "confirmed cases in Hong Kong have substantially decreased".
Mr Cheng came with family on an overnight Cathy Pacific flight.
He said they had to buy expensive flight tickets due to limited numbers of flights to Australia.
'Problematic' testing scheme targets China
Not everyone believed the PCR test requirement was fair.
Mr Wang, who only wanted to use his surname, told the ABC he thought the testing requirement was "problematic" because it was targeting China.
"If passengers from every country needed to fulfil the test requirement 48 hours before their flights, we wouldn't have much to complain about," Mr Wang said.
"It seems to be discriminatory as it is only targeting China."
Mr Wang is one of dozens of Chinese Australians who are waiting for the arrival of their family members.
His son, who was coming from Shanghai, went to a hospital for the test.
However, Mr Wang said Shanghai's PCR testing services would shut down from Sunday, which may impact the departure of passengers who come to Australia next week.
Health minister defends test requirement
Australia's move, which has sparked anger from Chinese authorities, comes after similar announcements from other countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and India.
The new rule has been imposed despite Australia's Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly advising the government not to introduce it, saying there was not "sufficient public health rationale".
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the government needed to explain why it had ignored the chief medical officer's advice.
"Chinese Australians want to return home after their holidays and need more certainty in their travel plans," he said.
The World Health Organization said China's COVID-19 data was not giving an accurate picture of the situation in the country, and under-represented the number of hospitalisations and deaths.
Health Minister Mark Butler cited the lack of detail over the scale of infections in China as he defended his decision to impose the tests.
He said Border Force had not identified any issues with compliance as the first flights arrived on Thursday morning.
"We want these measures to be temporary, they are modest measures, and as you see with flights arriving today, they are not a barrier to travel," Mr Butler said.
The Australian Medical Association said the government must take a more nationally consistent approach, rather than its "hotchpotch" response to the pandemic so far.
China has threatened countermeasures against countries that require mandatory pre-flight COVID-19 testing for travellers coming from the country.
It's not clear what that could entail.
"We firmly reject using COVID measures for political purposes and will take corresponding measures in response to varying situations based on the principle of reciprocity," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
