An ABC reporter who touched clothes and debris at the MH17 crash site has defended his actions, even after the report was removed from the ABC website for "re-editing".

Phil Williams said the items he touched were not part of an uncontaminated crime scene.

“I am guilty of picking up, touching a scarf on the ground and that’s because, there are piles of people’s belongings that have just been collected and dumped on the roadside, they’ve been picked through and so it’s not as though it’s a crime scene, an uncontaminated crime scene there," Williams told the ABC's PM on Monday night.

"It’s a very difficult scene to report on. Literally the evidence is everywhere you walk."

A spokesman said "the ABC has reminded journalists of responsibilities when reporting from an air crash scene such as MH17. A report has been re-edited to avoid any distress to our audience."