The Keating government considered selling off the Royal Australian Mint more than two decades before Tony Abbott mooted the idea.
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A newly released cabinet minute from July 1993 shows the Finance Department proposed two options to dispose of the mint.
The first was to privatise it while continuing to buy coins exclusively from the new owner. The second was to sell it and buy coins from an open market, likely an overseas provider.
Privatisation was a crucial part of prime minister Paul Keating's plans to restructure the economy. Also in 1993, his government oversaw the privatisation of Qantas. It had earlier begun the gradual sale of the Commonwealth Bank.
The Finance Department's minute shows it expected to gain only $15 million from selling the mint (about $27 million in today's prices), which was less than the annual revenue it generated.
However, it said the rationale for keeping the mint in government hands was "questionable", saying about four in five of its staff were devoted to producing specialist coins to sell to collectors rather than currency for the economy.
Finance also noted that a private buyer might not be able to keep the "royal" prefix in the name, and closing the mint would result in the loss of about 170 jobs.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet backed the proposal to sell the agency off, though the Treasury had reservations.
"[W]hile privatisation may appear to be an attractive option offering potentially improved efficiencies in its operations and the prospect of more competitive coin prices, the situation is not likely to be so clear cut," the Treasury told Mr Keating's expenditure review committee, which comprised a handful of senior ministers.
"In general terms, the attractiveness of the mint to any potential buyer will be dependent on what is being offered, particularly the extent and duration of any exclusive rights to produce circulating coins or issue numismatic products.
"However, the granting of such rights is likely to minimise any potential improvements in the cost of coins to the Commonwealth, an area where the potential benefits can be very significant on an ongoing basis."
The Treasury instead favoured merging the mint with Note Printing Australia, which makes Australia's banknotes.
In 2014, the Abbott government ordered a scoping study of selling the mint after its commission of audit said "there is an international market for manufacturing currency".
The government eventually decided to keep the mint because it was "operating as an effective business and it is well-regarded by its international peers".
Last financial year was one of the mint's strongest. It supplied coins to seven other countries, had record revenue from its commercial business and was visited by 300,000 people, its best-ever result.
