Nine out of 10 victim-survivors of forced marriages, human trafficking or bonded labour in Australia are women.
The grim numbers are from a landmark study released on Tuesday that found Australian Federal Police received 150 reports of alleged modern slavery between July and December 2022.
Australian Institute of Criminology researchers found nearly a third of the reports related to forced marriage and a quarter were about sexual servitude.
The perpetrators of these offences are overwhelmingly men (71 per cent).
Thirty-six victim-survivors of modern slavery were referred to the Support for Trafficked People Program, with 44 per cent of them under 18.
The institute's deputy director Rick Brown says the data arms agencies with much needed knowledge and gives justice to victims
“There is no place for human trafficking or modern slavery in our communities.
"This data will help government and policy agencies, as well as community support initiatives, to better understand the problem in Australia, including the attrition of cases through the criminal justice system," Dr Brown said.
Fifteen matters involving human trafficking, slavery, and slavery-like offences were either referred to or continued by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Twenty people have been charged with a total of 55 human trafficking and modern slavery offences.
Other forms of slavery that authorities received tip-offs about were trafficking of persons out of Australia (21 per cent) and forced labour (18 per cent).
Earlier this month, the government appointed former senator Chris Evans as Australia's first anti-slavery commissioner.
Human rights groups welcomed the move but called for increased funding, extra enforcement and investigation powers given to his office.
A review of Australia's Modern Slavery Act tabled in 2023 found "no hard evidence" the legislation was bringing meaningful change for people living in modern slavery conditions.
NSW anti-slavery commissioner James Cockayne called for an urgent inquiry into the practice after identifying risks for temporary migrant workers in rural and regional parts of the state.
It followed a report that estimated 16,400 people were trapped in modern slavery after it looked at modern slavery risks temporary migrant workers face in agriculture, horticulture and meat processing in NSW.
