Prime Minister Tony Abbott has revealed Australia is working with other countries on options to secure the site of crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to allow a thorough forensic investigation.
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Speaking to reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Abbott said it was the view of his envoy Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston that such a search of the 50-square-kilometre crash area required it first be secured.
"The Australian government is looking at options for creating a safe environment for the forensic search of the area covered by the crash trail. We are talking to our partners in grief about more work at the United Nations and elsewhere to support the UN resolution, to make it a reality that we do in fact bring them home," Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott said the resolution, passed by the UN Security Council this week, insisted on "the dignified, respectful and professional treatment and recovery of the bodies of the victims and calls upon all parties to ensure that this happens with immediate effect".
"What we're looking at are measures that will make this UN resolution a reality, and not simply an aspiration," he said.
"I've asked senior officials to prepare options for possible measures to support the execution of this resolution."
Mr Abbott said he had canvassed the issue with a number of world leaders in recent days, and there was strong support for securing the crash site.
"We must bring all of them home, and we fear that unless we do more, unless we prepare for further possible measures, some of them will never come home and that would be completely unacceptable for bereaved families in Australian and right around the world."
Asked whether ‘‘many thousands’’ of armed troops might be be needed to secure the large crash site, Mr Abbott said such a scenario was ‘‘utterly speculative’’.
Mr Abbott said the first human remains from the site would be transferred to the Netherlands by military aircraft including an Australian C-17 aircraft, on Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainian time.
Marshal Houston will farewell the remains in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove will receive the remains in the Netherlands, where the process of identification will take place.
‘‘It may take quite some time, but our personnel, both Australian and Dutch, are amongst the best, and the most experienced in the world,’’ Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott said the operation to recover remains from the crash site had been ‘‘quite unprofessional’’ so far and he warned that it was possible some human remains or significant wreckage remained in the crash area.
‘‘It might be the partial remains of a loved one. It might be a small but critical piece of the aircraft or the missile that is the key to the investigation. Any remains or wreckage quite easily could be in other than in obvious places,’’ Mr Abbott said.
‘‘As long as it’s possible that there are any Australian remains out there, we owe it to the families to do our utmost, to do our absolute utmost to recover them,’’ he said.
The human remains that have been recovered to date are being stored in a refrigerated train in Kharkiv.
‘‘I have to say though, based on early inspection of the carriages in Kharkiv, we just don’t know how many bodies we have,’’ Mr Abbott said.
‘‘It’s quite possible that many bodies are still out there in the open, in the European summer, subject to interference, and subject to the ravages of heat and animals. That is the predicament in which we find ourselves.’’
Mr Abbott thanked the approximately 100 Australian officials working overseas on the response to the disaster, including consular officials, disaster victim identification experts, federal police, air crash investigators and defence personnel.
