Aust efforts to recover MH17 victims

AUSTRALIA'S RESPONSE SO FAR TO THE MH17 TRAGEDY:

* Australia to send unarmed Australian Federal Police officers into the crash site as part of a Dutch-led police mission to the crash site. The AFP has deployed 190 officers to Europe, with about 20 stationed in the Netherlands and the rest in the Ukraine. As of Sunday there were 11 AFP officers on site. Further officers to be deployed pending daily security assessments.

* Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has signed an in-principle deal with her Ukrainian counterpart allowing access for armed Australians, and has been lobbying for Ukraine's parliament to ratify the agreement by early next week. But Prime Minister Tony Abbott says there is no need for parliamentary approval for the unarmed mission announced on Sunday.

* Mr Abbott has continued his round of calls with world leaders, and on Saturday again spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the setting up of an independent inquiry into the disaster. Over the weekend he also spoke with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

* An Australian C-17 Globemaster plane continues to transport bodies from Ukraine to The Netherlands for identification. Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove has been in the Netherlands to receive the bodies at Eindhoven Airport.

* Australia has also deployed a small contingent of support staff from the defence force, including medical and surgical teams. But Mr Abbott has stressed the AFP deployment is taking part in a police-led humanitarian mission, not a military operation.