Lisa Allan, Sydney – A NSW coroner says former intelligence workers may have important information about the deaths of the Balibo Five journalists in East Timor 30 years ago.

Official reports maintain the men – Greg Shackleton, 27, Gary Cunningham, 27, Tony Stewart, 21, Malcolm Rennie, 28, and Brian Peters, 29, – were killed in crossfire in the East Timorese town of Balibo in 1975, but their families insist they were murdered by Indonesian troops.

Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch today appealed for help from former workers from the Shoal Bay Receiving Station, a defence intelligence-gathering station near Darwin, who provided information to Hope Royal Commission officer George Brownbill in 1977.

Mr Brownbill last week reportedly said a top secret document showed the five Australian journalists were executed on the orders of Indonesian military chiefs.

Ms Pinch today said she wanted to hear from staff working at the receiving station on March 4, 1977, who "provided a document to George Brownbill and Ian Cunliffe, then officers with the Hope Royal Commission into Intelligence and Security."

Ms Pinch believed the information "could assist the inquest into the death of cameraman Brian Raymond Peters," according to a statement.

Ms Pinch also called for more information from radio operators who worked for the Defence Signals Directorate at Shoal Bay between October 14 and October 20, 1975.

Also today, Ms Pinch dismissed an application to force former government officials to disclose exactly what they knew about the killings.

The family of Mr Peters, a cameraman, sought to have former prime minister Gough Whitlam give evidence at an inquest into his death.

The coroner dismissed the application to subpoena Mr Whitlam and other former government officials to determine whether they discharged their obligations to the journalists.

But Mr Whitlam may still be called to testify, with Ms Pinch saying she would not rule out the former Labor leader giving evidence on the "intentions of the Indonesian government". She told Glebe Coroners Court it was not in the scope of the inquest to include the knowledge of the Australian government at the time.

"It seems to me that there are patent national security implications involved in assessing whether the Australian government should have approached the Indonesian government on the basis of information received via intelligence intercepts," she said.

Ms Pinch said journalists reporting from unstable areas are "incredibly brave" and additional security information may not have altered their plans.

"It is a matter of speculation as to whether any additional warning issued by the Australian government would have impacted on the actions of the journalists," she said.

"The evidence indicates that they chose to remain in the Balibo area after other journalists had left."