The widow of one of five journalists killed by Indonesian troops in Timor in 1975 has launched a new campaign to have her husband's remains returned to Australia.

Shirley Shackleton's husband Greg was one of the so-called Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists killed in East Timor in 1975 by Indonesian forces.

Indonesia, however, says they were caught in crossfire.

Their remains lie in a single grave in the capital Jakarta.

Mrs Shackleton has travelled to Jakarta to push for her husband and his colleagues' remains to be bought home.

She says there are many unresolved questions surrounding their deaths and subsequent burial.

"Why on earth are they here? Why weren't they taken [home]?" she said.

"I haven't had answers to anything."

Mrs Shackleton says after 37 years, the Government should act.

"Well I suppose the Australian governments and the Indonesian governments have to get together and surely it's time for them to say let's get rid of this weeping sore, because the longer it goes on the worse it gets," she said.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has accompanied Mrs Shackleton to Indonesia.

"I think she deserves resolution," he said.

"I would've thought the justice of her case demand that her husband is brought home."

Mrs Shackleton is meeting Australian ambassador Greg Moriaty to ask for help and she is getting advice from human rights lawyers.

But taking the case through the courts could be an exhaustive process.

Neither the Australian or Indonesian foreign ministers have commented.

But at 81 years old, Ms Shackleton says she is running out of time to bring her husband home.