How to earn Aeroplan points in Australia?

I think I can comment on this as I was in a similar situation as you having held a Canadian AmEx and a UK AmEx card. Before I left the UK for good I called up AmEx and had my membership rewards transfer over which transfers at the prevailing rate (I think it was something like 1 UK AmEx MR = 1.67 AmEx CAD MR back in 2019). The current exchange rate is 1 AUD = 0.69 USD so that means you would probably get .69 US AmEx MR points per AU point which by the way is actually more favourable than had you transferred over to any of the airline partners here in Australia (as the transfer rate in AU I think is always 2:1 whereas in the US it's typically 1:1).

If you could ever get a hold of a Canadian AmEx card you'd get even more value on account of the fact that you can transfer 1:1 Canadian AmEx points to Aeroplan and the exchange rate to AUD is more favourable at 1 AUD = 0.92 CAD.
No idea if non-residents can access this card, but Scotiabank offers an Aeroplan-affiliated AmEx card (ie, direct Aeroplan earning). They also have Aeroplan-affiliated Visa cards, as does TD Bank, but these may not be available to non-residents.
 
Buying points takes about a minute and will extend validity for another 18 months.
I tried buying points with their bonus offer recently but because I had no points in my account with them, they wouldnt allow me to buy any. NOt sure why if you are saying you can buy points...
 
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I tried buying points with their bonus offer recently but because I had no points in my account with them, they wouldnt allow me to buy any. NOt sure why if you are saying you can buy points...
How old is your account?

I’ve never had an issue buying points with a zero starting balance.
 
How old is your account?

I’ve never had an issue buying points with a zero starting balance.
I thought if it’s your first time buying points you needed to have some in account similar to other programs I’ve come across.
I know when I first signed up to
Aeroplan I encountered the same issue so just transferred some Hilton points over
 
I thought if it’s your first time buying points you needed to have some in account similar to other programs I’ve come across.
I know when I first signed up to
Aeroplan I encountered the same issue so just transferred some Hilton points over
There’s one or two that require you to have at least one point! Virgin Atlantic springs to mind.

But with Aeroplan I started at zero, as did all the people I have referred to it.

One friend who lives here but has Chinese credit cards has been unable to buy miles at all, likely because of the award blocking ex some part of asia due to fraud.

I think there was another report up-thread about an account holder unable to purchase, who had just recently opened their account?
 

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