Some of the most important environmental legacies of late prime minister Bob Hawke included the pursuit of proposals initially opposed by advisers or cabinet colleagues, Barry Jones, his former science minister, recalled.

Mr Hawke, who died on Thursday, used his "extraordinary powers of persuasion" to secure international support for the 1991 Madrid Protocol that imposed a 50-year moratorium on mining in Antarctica, Mr Jones said.

Bob Hawke, right, and Barry Jones, left, at the Questacon science centre in Canberra in 1987. Credit:David James Bartho

"The advice from Foreign Affairs was, 'Don’t even try, it’ll never work, you won’t get consensus,' " he said. "That only made Hawke all the more determined.

"A number of people would say there are no votes in Antarctica - penguins aren’t voting for us - [so] why bother?"