Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove is travelling to the Netherlands where he will meet aircraft bringing the victims of the MH17 disaster back from Ukraine.
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Prime Minister Tony Abbott asked Sir Peter late on Tuesday to make the journey.
''It is important for the families and for our nation, that our people be received by one of our own,'' Mr Abbott said in a statement on Wednesday.
This comes as a train carrying the remains of victims recovered from the wreckage reached Kharkiv, Ukraine on Tuesday evening.
The remains will be transferred to the Netherlands for identification and repatriation.
Mr Abbott said that while the process may take some weeks, once Australian victims had been identified, the government would fly their families to the Netherlands if they wanted, ''so they can accompany their loved ones home''.
This comes as almost 100 bodies are still unaccounted for.
Dutch authorities have revealed that only 200 bodies were on the train carrying the remains of the victims, when there were 298 people on MH17.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop acknowledged that there was a ''discrepancy''.
She told Channel Seven this was ''precisely why'' international investigators were needed at the crash site as soon as possible.
When later asked if Australia would contribute to a multinational force to secure the site, Ms Bishop told Sky News a ''range of options'' were being considered.
