Cabinet papers from the early 1980s have been released, shedding light on the economic woes besetting the Fraser government and the incoming Hawke government's role in preventing the Franklin Dam.

The National Archives has released the cabinet documents from 1982 and 1983 - a time when unemployment was rising, the budget deficit was growing, and the drought was worsening.

In the words of then Liberal treasurer John Howard, the economy had "gone bad" on the government.

The documents show both governments sought to bring wages under control, but Mr Hawke's accord with unions and business leaders was the more successful strategy.

Both governments also considered various service and sales taxes.

As soon as he was elected in 1983, Mr Hawke was confronted with the news that if Labor was to implement all its policies it would face a budget deficit of $12 billion.

The new Labor treasurer Paul Keating warned his colleagues the economy was in deep recession, and they would have to be prepared to substantially modify and abolish programs inherited from the former government.

The government took office with a promise to set up a Prices and Income Accord, and to hold a national economic summit.

It also endorsed a return to central wage fixing and lower wage claims by unions.

Mr Hawke says striking an agreement to bring rising wages under control and provide better support to low-income Australians were the proudest achievements of his first year in office.

He says his government's ability to strike a deal endorsed by unions, business and community groups set the tone for the rest of its term.

"I was very, very much committed to move as quickly as possible upon election to give effect to my promise to call a summit; that was in many senses, I think, the foundation of so much of the total success of our government."

The cabinet documents from 1982 show the Fraser government did not have as much success in implementing its "wage pause" policy.

Mr Hawke says despite the economic trouble, there was no consideration of delaying the introduction of Medicare - which had first been proposed by Gough Whitlam in the 1970s.

Uranium ban considered

Meanwhile, the documents show the Hawke government considered banning all uranium exports, which would have brought an end to uranium mining in Australia.

But the government decided that would be too costly and damaging to Australia's international reputation.

The papers show that ministers considered a range of options on how best to implement Labor's policy calling for a total ban on new uranium mines.

Several options were canvassed, from a refusal to approve any further exports to considering applications on a case by case basis.

In 1983, Treasury urged the government to save money by merging SBS and the ABC, although the Communications Department was horrified at the prospect and cabinet rejected the idea.

The documents also show the Fraser government decided against allowing parliamentary proceedings to be televised because they were worried about the dignity of parliamentarians.

And in 1982, Malcolm Fraser's cabinet thought it needed to resolve the question of televising parliament, with a submission acknowledging that this would reduce the gap between the public and politicians.

But there were also concerns that some MPs would play to the camera, allowing parts to be broadcast could lead to them being misused for satirical purposes.

The submissions stated that a large proportion of Question Time was taken up with sectional or parochial issues, which would be of little general interest, and cabinet eventually voted against the proposal.

Mr Fraser documents show his government chose to ignore what he called "toxic" options to deal with asylum seekers.

The cabinet papers include discussions on Australia's handling of an influx of Vietnamese people by sea, and Mr Fraser says his government was determined to deal with asylum seekers humanely.

"The immigration department had put forward in its papers to cabinet all the toxic solutions that have been tried since but they got very scant discussion," he said.

"Nobody wanted to go down that path. We didn't need to go down that path. We didn't need to demean Australia in the eyes of the world."

Franklin Dam

The cabinet documents show the Fraser government considered the issue of the Franklin Dam at length in 1982, before deciding not to intervene in state affairs, but instead offer half a billion dollars for a coal-fired power station.

The issue was a significant factor at the 1983 election, and the new prime minister Bob Hawke declared the dam would not go ahead.

The High Court eventually ruled in the Federal Government's favour, and cabinet approved a compensation package for Tasmania.

Mr Hawke says he considers it one of his government's best achievements for the year.

"I knew we'd lose seats in Tasmania, in fact we lost them all, but I said to our people, 'we'll get them all back', and we did.

"There is no reason to say it has got to be either environment or growth; a sensible government can provide decent policies to ensure environmental protection and the conditions for optimising economic growth."

Mr Hawke has confirmed cabinet did not approve the decision to use the Air Force to conduct surveillance flights over the dam site in 1983.

Then attorney-general Gareth Evans sustained considerable criticism at the time for sending the RAAF on a surveillance mission as part of the Federal Government's opposition to the dam.

Mr Hawke says he did not know about the surveillance flights.

"But I think all of us who love and know Gareth know that he's got a rather dramatic and compulsive streak about him," he said.

"It's not something that I would have authorised or done, but it didn't do any harm."