Australia's Chinese community is divided over travel restrictions on people entering the country, questioning the politics behind the public health measures.
The federal government is under fire for requiring travellers to record a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of departure from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
Medical experts have labelled the restrictions unnecessary.
But Chinese Australian Forum president Simon Chan said while that may be the case, there was a lack of information coming out of Beijing.
He said Chinese travellers would also have more confidence in flying knowing they were less likely to catch COVID while in transit.
"You don't want to have a new variant coming in and then find out afterwards. It'll be too late," he told ABC radio on Thursday.
Kirby Institute associate professor Stuart Turville said it was too early to know if the Omicron-descendant would bring more serious illness and hospitalisations.
"There is a lot of hysteria on social media saying this is the next big one," Dr Turville told AAP.
"Until the data is in hand, it's just crystal ball gazing."
Elena Collinson, a manager at the Australia-China Relations Institute, said the testing requirement was "understandable" but would have an impact on tourism and business ties between the two nations, particularly in the lead-up to lunar new year.
"It is difficult to deny that there is some politicisation at play given the chasm between political action and medical advice," Ms Collinson said.
The comments were echoed by Peter Low, a retired business figure from Brisbane's Australian Chinese community.
"My personal view is that they are overreacting. Why single out Chinese?" he said.
"It's similar to back when COVID first started. The Chinese were singled out and we copped a lot of flak, a lot of racial discrimination."
China's foreign ministry has slammed the measures, despite having the same entry requirement, and threatened reciprocal measures.
Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt hit back, saying the measures were modest.
"That reflects the kind of policies that they've decided to take in relation to their own country," he told Sky News.
Senator Watt said the measures were only temporary.
"Hopefully, China will make a decision to become more transparent in its data sharing and provide information about genetic genomic sequencing," he said.
Liberal frontbencher Sussan Ley wants to know the rationale behind the measures, which were not recommended by the chief medical officer.
"It's not about (China), it's about what we do with our international borders," she said.
Bendigo Chinese Association president Doug Lougoon said members of the Australian Chinese community he'd spoken to were more concerned about the high cost travelling to China, with return airfares costing about $4000.
"They'd be more worried about the cost of airfares rather than the imposition of a COVID test before they return," he said.
© AAP 2023