Russian President Vladimir Putin should have acted sooner to secure the crime scene at the crash site of MH17, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.
It's taken days after the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine for Mr Putin to tell separatists to co-operate with international investigators.
"This is what President Putin should have done from the outset," Ms Bishop told Sky News from New York.
Mr Putin's move follows a unanimous United Nations Security Council vote for a resolution demanding international access to the site.
Ms Bishop says she's been advised that things have progressed since the vote and Australian experts will soon have access to the crash site.
Russian-backed separatists have hampered investigations, blocking access to the site and reportedly tampering with evidence.
It was days before the first international experts were granted access to the area.
Bodies of victims, including Australians, have arrived on a refrigerated train in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
They will be flown to the Netherlands, where Australian experts are waiting to begin identifying them.
The process could involve collecting DNA from the families back home.
"Sadly we do have expertise in this, particularly after the Bali bombings," Ms Bishop said.
Up to 39 Australian citizens and residents were among the nearly 300 people killed when MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine.
The focus now was finding out who was responsible for the crash, Ms Bishop said.
"We have been of the view for some time, we know how this occurred and there will be more evidence to back that conclusion," Ms Bishop told the Nine Network.
"But we need to determine who is responsible."
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