Health Minister Mark Butler has defended imposing mandatory COVID-19 testing on arrivals from China, against the advice of the government’s chief medical officer, saying the “fast moving” situation and lack of transparency in China justified the decision.while racial justice groups said Chinese travellers were being unfairly singled out for discriminatory treatment.
Butler told 5AA radio in Adelaide on Tuesday his decision to go beyond Kelly’s advice was “really about acting out of an abundance of caution”.“It’s a modest measure,” he said of the testing requirements, which come into effect on Thursday. “It just requires people to take a test within 48 hours before they board a flight from China, Hong Kong and Macau.”
While travel from China does not pose a public health risk to Australia, Butler said he was “concerned to make sure that we can gather more information about what’s happening on the ground with China and this is one way in which we do it”.Nationals leader David Littleproud said the government had created confusion by bucking the advice of its top medical adviser.
“One of the reasons why Australia got through the pandemic as one of the best countries in the world to do so was because we followed Australia’s medical advice,” she told Radio National. She said Butler had “shown blatant disregard for Australians of Asian background, a group who has borne the brunt of COVID-19 racism since the start of the pandemic”.He said China was in a “unique position” as it was opening up its economy and restarting travel significantly later than other countries.