THE Australian Government wanted Britain to contribute almost $70 million towards the clean-up of the Maralinga and Emu nuclear test sites but ended up being forced to settle for just $45 million in 1993. 
Cabinet documents from 1990 and 1991 show Bob Hawke's Government was determined to ensure the UK Government made a substantial financial contribution to the rehabilitation of its former nuclear test sites in Australia.
In   August 1991, Cabinet agreed that Mr Hawke should write to British Prime Minister John Major seeking the contribution. Then-primary industries minister Simon Crean advised Cabinet the British should be asked to contribute $69.9 million to the estimated $93 million clean-up cost.
Mr Crean wrote in a Cabinet submission that the British Government had refused to accept responsibility for compensating Aboriginal people affected by the tests conducted between 1953 and 1963. Legal advice indicated the Maralinga Tjarutja people had no case against the Britain for compensation under international law.
"Insistence on payment by the UK of Aboriginal compensation would seriously detract from Australia's efforts to seek rehabilitation funds from the British," Mr Crean wrote.The clean up ended up costing $108 million.