Australia as a destination country for trafficking

There was little discussion about Australia as a destination country at the Development Studies Network conference, People Trafficking, Human Security and Development, for the good reason that many of the speakers were from source countries and understandably spoke about the issues from that perspective. Nevertheless, the trafficking of people into Australia, mostly for the purposes of exploitation in the sex industry, has been the subject of considerable political controversy in recent times. This article outlines the challenges posed by transnational crimes of this nature; discusses the extent of the problem in Australia; explains the confusion between people trafficking and people smuggling; critically analyses the existing Australian Government policy response to the issue; and argues that this response is still out of step with international best practice.