The stated reason for the "additional" tariff on cars was to...

The stated reason for the "additional" tariff on cars was to kickstart the industry. This went on for well over half a century. And it was for far more than 5%. Far too excessive. I doubt very much that EVs will receive a similar concession.

With respect to the low sweat shop wages - that is absolute nonsense. The only competition was from Europe and Japan, not third world countries. But in particular, Japan quickly set up modern factories with robots - making 50 cars per employee per year, whereas australia made 5 per employee. A 10x productivity ratio. Wage difference totally irrelevant. The fault was with the manufacturers as they refused to modernise, even though many times they promised they would. Instead they blackmailed the country saying there would be massive layoffs, forcing the govt to continue the tariffs.

Remember too that all people who bought cars suffered.