Basically, they purchased popularity.
Australian politics has neither the willpower nor the foresight to battle either the coal or the fuel lobby.
The current government has already started watering down its initial fuel efficiency standards: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-26/vehicle-efficiency-st...
Although an unintended consequence tax write off (which saw a massive percentage increase of US style 'trucks' on Australian residential roads) is being cut back: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hate-all-the-monster...
Australia goes incredibly slowly in the right direction because Australians, like most Western countries' citizens, as-a-group, have their heads in the sand about the effects of the lifestyles to which they've become accustomed have on the world around them, and they're ably supported in this thinking by irresponsible media and opportunistic politics/politicians.
Theyre clearly doing something right but it's something nobody else seems to be able to replicate.
Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Subsaharan Africa, Venezuela, etc. - this is what it is typically like to be very, very rich in natural resources.
Even Australia's political system has been badly affected by being resource wealthy - look at the influence Gina has.
In a life or death situation for an industry, they can exert literally 1000x the political pressure before making losses.
Another way to look at it is $10,000s a person over a few decades.
While a lot of these processes may not be efficient for electricity generation, using them to clean up very emission intensive industries is a process that needs to be undertaken to reduce emissions worldwide.
The steel industry consumes 5.9% of global energy and emits 6-9% of global CO2 emissions.