Hawke drafted ozone protection laws

Cast your mind back a quarter of a century when the environmental buzzwords were greenhouse gases, CFCs and the ozone hole.

Those words seem all but forgotten in today's environmental sphere, replaced by terms such as carbon emissions, climate change and global warming.

But in 1988, ozone depletion was the biggest issue facing the global environment and the risk of skin cancer and cataracts were hot topics.

It was also the year Australia signed onto the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting substances and the Hawke government moved quickly to enshrine it into domestic law.

One month after signing on, cabinet gave the nod for the drafting of legislation to control CFCs and other ozone attacking chemicals.

The legislation - Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act - came into effect in 1989 and remains in place today.

Confidential cabinet documents released by the National Archives of Australia reveal the Hawke government was confident "general support" for the laws could be expected.

Prime Minister Bob Hawke also wanted to move quickly to ensure domestic actions were in place before the Montreal Protocol took affect the next year.

Widely regarded as the world's most successful environment protection agreement, the Montreal Protocol targets 96 chemicals and is the first international environment treaty to achieve complete ratification.

It's reviewed regularly and phase out dates for chemicals are assessed and accelerated based on emerging scientific evidence.

A government review of Australia's laws undertaken in 2014 stated the ozone layer should return to pre-1980 levels by 2065 if all countries remain true to their obligations.

However, while words like greenhouse gases and CFCs may have dropped from everyday vernacular, their replacements present problems that arguably are as concerning.

Unfortunately, the international climate agreements have not proved as successful as the Montreal ozone protocol.

Nations have the chance to prove their commitment to holding off global warming in 2015, when they attempt to sign a global agreement to reduce emissions at the UN climate summit in Paris.