Mr Turnbull insists his government is doing everything it can to deliver justice for the 38 Australians killed in the the 2014 attack over eastern Ukraine.

He said he knew one of the Australians killed: "A beautiful nun, actually, who taught my daughter."

"They have not got justice yet and we're doing everything we can to deliver it, but the justice is being denied by the Russian government, that's the reality," Mr Turnbull told 2GB radio on Thursday.

"We have imposed sanctions (on Russia) and we are supporting the investigation to identify the people that were responsible and then bring them to justice."

Mr Turnbull said Australia was working closely with Dutch investigators examining how the plane was shot down, killing 298 people on board.

"That prosecution will investigate and bring to trial the people that they allege that are found to have been responsible," he said.

"And then of course those people will have to be very, very careful about where they go."

Last week, Tony Abbott took aim at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's "disappointing" comments about the downing of MH17.

The former prime minister said it was "not good enough" for Ms Bishop to argue people should wait for an investigation to conclude before forming views on the evidence.

Mr Abbott said it was "absolutely clear" Russia was behind the deadly attack.

Australian Associated Press