The Human Rights Commission has hit back at claims it is mishandling complaints under the Racial Discrimination Act, confirming it had no involvement with a controversial court case against Queensland University of Technology (QUT) students.

Days after the Federal Circuit Court threw out a racial hatred case against the students, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull lashed out at the commission for "bringing" the case in the first place, claiming it had done a great deal of harm to its credibility.

"The Human Rights Commission has not done itself or its reputation or the respect for the law a service by bringing that case, which most people found extraordinary," he told the ABC's AM.

"That a case would be brought against three students making comments on Facebook, and now it has been chucked out as having no reasonable prospect of success."

But this afternoon the commission released a statement clarifying that it "terminated" the QUT complaint in August 2015 — meaning no resolution could be reached — and "had no role in the subsequent law suit in the Federal Circuit Court".

It also noted it had no power to prevent a complainant proceeding to court once the commission terminated the matter.

"At no stage does the commission initiate or prosecute a complaint," it said in a statement.

"If the commission receives a complaint in writing alleging a discriminatory act, the act provides that the commission must investigate the facts and attempt to conciliate the matter."

The Prime Minister's Office told the ABC the commission enabled the matter to go to the Federal Circuit Court by not dealing with in a suitable and timely manner.

'Triggs sat on the complaint for 14 months'

It pointed to comments from one of the students' lawyers, Tony Morris QC, who said on Friday that commission president Gillian Triggs was to blame for the case making it to court.

"She has a job to do under the anti-discrimination legislation and that is to inquire into every complaint that comes into her office," he said.

"In this case, Triggs sat on the complaint for 14 months before these kids even learnt that they had a complaint."

Dr Triggs told 7.30 it was unfair to say the Human Rights Commission had failed to prevent a lengthy court case.

"This is a very unusual case and it really proved very difficult with the lawyers for various sides," she said.

"But during that time we, in good faith, believed the parties would actually resolve the matter.

"That would mean it would not have to go to court.

"That is a primary objective of ours to try and ensure that people have got their day before the commission, where they can make their argument and conciliate if possible."

The case against the QUT students — and similar legal action targeting News Corp cartoonist Bill Leak — has fuelled calls within the Coalition for an inquiry into the Racial Discrimination Act.

Dr Triggs said the QUT and Bill Leak cases had received "extraordinary publicity" given the commission deals with close to 22,000 matters each year.

"You would have heard of one or two of them across two or three years - it's very unusual," she said.

"If the parties chose to put this in the public arena — and normally they do not — then of course the anxiety and the concerns are exacerbated."

Ahead of a partyroom meeting on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull has strongly indicated the issue will be referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Human Rights.