Clinton praises Julie Bishop over MH17

Former US president Bill Clinton has paid tribute to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's efforts to get the UN Security Council to agree on a resolution on the MH17 disaster.

Ms Bishop has been widely applauded for her effort in securing the resolution, which also had the support of Russia.

"I was very proud yesterday to be in this country when the Australian foreign minister spoke at the UN," Mr Clinton told an AIDS conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Mr Clinton said he had also been "overwhelmed" by the comments of the Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans, whose country lost almost 200 people on the downed Malaysia Airlines flight.

"He took my breath away when he speculated what the last moments of those people must have been like," Mr Clinton said.

"I hope that all of our countries who value freedom and honour will look at the statement ... before they give in to the temptation to say: 'Well, maybe we should weaken our resolve to take a strong stand because after all they didn't mean to shoot this plane down'."

Mr Timmermans told the UN Security Council he had been thinking about the final moments of the passengers.

"Did they lock hands with their loved ones? Did they hold their children close to their hearts? Did they look each other in the eyes, one final time, in a wordless goodbye? We will never know."