Most cars in Australia are built in Australia. It's essentially its own market. Pretty much all European cars as seen as very exotic and are priced accordingly. In the early 2000s, you could buy two Honda Accords; one for their market and a much more expensive 'Euro' - the boggo one we had.

No mass manufactured cars are produced in Australia any more - last of the makers Holden closed a year or two ago.

Most cars in Australia are built in Australia. It's essentially its own market. Pretty much all European cars as seen as very exotic and are priced accordingly. In the early 2000s, you could buy two Honda Accords; one for their market and a much more expensive 'Euro' - the boggo one we had.

Not any more - Ford shut their Australian factory in 2016, GM shut Holden in 2017 and Toyota also shut in 2017

Until the pandemic the UK exported 1.0-1.3m vehicles pa. It is important for the economy and jobs.

Australia produces, and therefore exports, almost no vehicles. This means they can impose whatever standards they want with almost no consequences - in fact accepting lower standards probably reduces the costs of vehicles imported.

The reality is the exact opposite - Australian design rules (ADR) are quite strict and just not the same as European or American rules, probably higher than either - this makes imported cars more expensive.

It simply would not be an issue for European/Asian car makers to build Euro 5 for the UK market and Euro 7 for the rest of the European market, nor would UK makers have an issue with the difference - it could actually reduce the cost of cars for the UK market - but that's hypothetical as UK Govt doesn't want pollution any more than European governments.