Gough fronts Balibo inquest
He arrived in a navy blue suit and three hours later he departed from a speeding car that ran a red light. But former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s appearance before the inquest into the death of Brian Peters – one of the so-called Balibo Five journalists – has left many observers unsatisfied on whether the whole truth has come out about what led to the death of the five men in East Timor in 1975. Whitlam denied any knowledge of the events of Balibo until five days after the journalists were killed, remarks consistent with previous Government enquires, but witnesses appearing before the inquest have claimed that intelligence intercepts before and after the death on October 16 1975 pointed to the deliberate murder of the journalists by the Indonesian military. Shirley Shackleton, former wife of TV journalist Greg Shackleton, one of the Balibo Five, spoke about why she had labeled Mr Whitlam’s appearance as despicable.