The suspicious death of an Australian journalist filming Papuan guerrillas fighting Indonesia's hardline military rule must be revisited with an investigation, friends and colleagues say.

The plea comes as Papuan leaders prepare to raise their plight with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visits Papua New Guinea before heading to Australia next month.

 

PNG-born Mark Worth, 45, was found dead in a hotel room in Sentani, Papua province, on January 15, 2004.

Pneumonia was reported as the cause of death.

Worth died two days after the ABC announced his documentary, Land of the Morning Star, would premier on Australian screens in February 2004.

He had worked closely with Papuan rebels for more than 15 years, making documentaries for SBS, ABC and the Nine Network and also producing radio and print stories.

Former Papuan politician Clemence Runawery told AAP questions remain unanswered about his friend's death and has likened it to the Balibo Five - the Australian journalists murdered in East Timor in 1975.

"I call on the Australian foreign minister, Steven Smith, to make it his business with his Indonesian counterpart to investigate the circumstances around Worth's death," he said.

"The Indonesians knew Worth was following us, they didn't like it.

"In fairness sake and for Indonesia's integrity, they should make this their business."

Award-winning SBS journalist Mark Davis, Worth's colleague and friend, found it "surprising there was no official interest in the death".

"The death certainly was suspicious," he said.

"Worth rang me and said he had uncovered something huge, something I think more to do with West Papuan leaders than Indonesia."

But Davis added Worth was "not in a coherent state" and "not in great physical shape".

His death was such a shock that friends and relatives did not pursue the circumstances, he said.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said Worth's family received the normal consular assistance.

An investigation "would have been a matter for Indonesian authorities," she said.

Papua's independence struggle is Indonesia's biggest unresolved territorial dispute after East Timor having gained independence in 1999 and Aceh's conflict being resolved in 2005.

© 2010 AAP