A government intelligence chief destroyed documents revealing the deaths of Australian-based journalists in East Timor in 1975 to stop news of the killings spreading.
The claims, made at the inquest into the death of one of the so-called Balibo Five, came amid allegations that former prime minister Gough Whitlam and two senior ministers knew about the group's fate within days.
The inquest was told how top-secret details about the five deaths began flowing into the Office of Current Intelligence on October 17, 1975 – the day after they died in Balibo.
The Whitlam government delayed confirming the deaths until reports emerged in Jakarta's press on October 20, ostensibly because it wanted to protect the secret sources and operations of the Defence Signals Directorate.
Former OCI senior intelligence analyst Gary Klintworth told the inquest in Sydney yesterday that he saw details about the deaths on October 17 in a signals intercept picked up overnight by DSD from the Indonesian military in East Timor.
It said: "Among the dead are four white men. What are we going to do with the bodies?"
Dr Klintworth said he immediately assumed the intercept was referring to the journalists because he knew they were in Balibo and the Indonesian military was poised to attack. He quickly wrote a briefing note on the deaths for an internal OCI highlights memo that day.
"Australian journalists have been killed at Balibo," the memo said. "There was a report that four white men were killed and instructions were sought as to what to do with the bodies."
But he told Glebe Coroners Court yesterday when he handed the memo to OCI deputy chief John Bennetts that day he was ordered to destroy it, along with a batch of up to 25 copies. Dr Klintworth described the move as unprecedented.
"I think he (Mr Bennetts) indicated that wasn't the kind of information that should be distributed around Canberra," he said. "He didn't want this information to get out."
Dr Klintworth said OCI did not want news spreading about how the Australian government was eavesdropping on the Indonesian military. He said good relations between the two countries was of "paramount" importance.
Official government reports since 1975 have said Brian Peters, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Tony Stewart were killed in crossfire between Indonesian forces and Fretilin troops in Balibo.
However, the inquest has heard claims the Whitlam and Fraser governments lied about the deaths and knew the men were killed on orders from Indonesian forces.
Earlier, OCI's former chief Rowen Osborn said he always assumed Mr Whitlam, his defence and foreign ministers and their department heads were told within days about the DSD intercept regarding the journalists' deaths.
Mr Osborn said he and Mr Bennetts prepared three special reports on the deaths and sent them to a highly restricted group, including Mr Whitlam, his foreign and defence ministers and their department heads. The inquest continues.