Speaking in Malaysia on Saturday, where he was meeting his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government planned to install a "fitting monument" to the 239 passengers and crew who perished on the flight after it disappeared on March 8.

Six months on there has been no trace of the wreckage in the southern Indian Ocean.

The search for the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines plane, which will resume in about two weeks, was the subject of talks between the two prime ministers in Kuala Lumpur.

"A new phase of the search will begin using the best available technology and that search will continue until all that is humanly possible to be done has been done to scour the probable impact zone," Mr Abbott said.

"In respect of a monument or memorial, it would be the intention of the Australian government to erect some kind of fitting monument to those who perished on that flight at an appropriate point on the WA coastline.

"But again, this intention must be subject to the wishes of the Malaysian government and the wishes of the families."

The two leaders also discussed the ongoing efforts to repatriate the bodies of victims of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 disaster over eastern Ukraine and to return to the crash site where yet more bodies might still be recovered.

Mr Najib said regaining access to the site where the plane was shot down by Russian-backed rebels became more crucial as winter approached in the northern hemisphere.

He said intelligence reports on what happened to MH17 were "pretty conclusive" but an international criminal investigation had to assemble physical evidence that the plane was shot down by heavy missile.

"That is why we are very, very keen to re-enter the crash site especially before winter sets in," he said.

He said Malaysian, Dutch and Australian authorities needed access to the area within weeks to search the field for evidence and the bodies of any victims that might remain.

"Once that process is completed we will then look at the criminal side which is to find out who is responsible for this atrocious crime," Mr Najib said.

"That, I agree with you, is more challenging because gathering evidence in a conflict area presents a host of serious problems, but we will endeavour to find out the truth and to bring those responsible to justice."