But hundreds of documents were taken out of the vault on Sunday as part of the National Archives of Australia's yearly cabinet papers release after the 20-year embargo expired.

The documents show 2002 cabinet discussions around the burgeoning war on terror, the government's response to climate change and its consideration of Indigenous policy.

Here are six things we learned from the newly-released cabinet documents.

In the wake of the Bali bombings in October 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, cabinet considered introducing a "specific deprivation power" to strip convicted terrorists of their Australian citizenship.

A December cabinet minute shows cabinet had agreed to introduce legislation to strip convicted terrorists of their citizenship, even if they were born in Australia, "regardless of whether the offence was committed before or after" being granted citizenship.

While the legislation was never introduced by Howard's government, it was passed by the Abbott government in 2015.

The Howard government refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because the US was not going to adhere to the target, the documents show.

Cabinet discussions stated it was "not in Australia's interest to ratify" the emissions reduction targets as it would be "burdening its emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries with costs not faced by competitors".

The successive Rudd-Labor government would eventually sign Australia up to the protocol in 2007.

Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks was discussed by cabinet in 2002, after he was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001.

Hicks, an "enemy combatant" who attended an Al-Qaeda training camp, was jailed by US authorities in Guantanamo Bay for nearly six years.

The 2002 cabinet documents show the Howard government saw his detention as lawful and "the need to agree consistent public positions by both the Australian and US governments concerning future actions in relation to Mr Hicks".

The cabinet also agreed to prevent Hicks from profiting off any publication of his account.

The Howard government refused to apologise to Indigenous Australians for the Stolen Generations because "it could imply that present generations are in some way responsible and accountable for the actions of earlier generations", cabinet documents revealed.

After Mr Howard lost the election in 2007, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd delivered a national apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008.

The possibility of a treaty was also rejected as "negotiations would be divisive, contrary to the concept of Australia as a single nation, could create legal uncertainty" and would "not solve the critical issues facing Indigenous Australians such as social and economic disadvantage".

The documents reveal the Australian Defence Force was concerned it had been lobbed with a number of new operations in the wake of overseas terrorism attacks but couldn't take it all on without some extra cash and resources.

Then-defence minister Robert Hill made a plea to cabinet for an extra $1 billion over the 2001-02 and 2002-03 financial years so it could protect the country's northern waters along with new commitments in the Middle East.

Treasury, Finance and Prime Minister and Cabinet said the department had failed to raise money from planned asset sales and recommended senior ministers pay better attention to what it was doing.

While they ultimately agreed Defence should get some extra funding in light of the war against terrorism and a shift in government priorities, they pointed out Defence still had extra fat to trim.

Cabinet rejected establishing a royal commission into child abuse, 10 years before the Labor government established an inquiry into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Then-prime minister Howard gave an oral report in April 2002 to cabinet about the possibility of a royal commission into child abuse.

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The cabinet rejected the possibility, noting issues relating to child abuse were mainly the responsibility of the states and territories and a royal commission with only Commonwealth powers would "not have the capacity to review these matters fully".

A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established a decade later by former prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012.