Women are being trafficked to Australia and forced into a life of slavery under the partner migration program, a new report by the Institute of Criminology has revealed.

The report details the cases of eight women in Canberra and Sydney who have come to Australia with the promise of a happy marriage, but have ended up being exploited by their partners.

Samantha Lyneham, a research analyst from the Institute of Criminology, interviewed the women.

"The most severe case that I came across was one woman who - if she didn't obey her husband - would be locked outside of the house, especially during winter, she'd be forced to sleep in a backyard under a tree in freezing cold conditions," she said.

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"During the day, she'd be forced to take a pair of scissors and to cut the lawn throughout the day, until it was mowed.

"If she didn't do that she would be beaten."

Another woman she interviewed is Kanya from India. At the age of 17, Kanya was set up in an arranged marriage with a family friend living in Australia.

She first met her husband in India when she turned 18, married him three days later and came to Australia.

Once she arrived here, she was picked up by her husband and her husband's girlfriend," said Ms Lyneham.

"She was taken to the family home where there were 16 members living in that house and she was expected to be their slave.

"She cooked for them, cleaned for them, had to take care of a number of small children, as well as a number of elderly parents.

"The relationship with her husband was fake and she was put into slavery like conditions which she was in for a number of months before she could escape."

The women were all aged between 18 and 49 and came from various countries, including Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

They had all consented to their marriages, but were deceived about the men they were marrying and the nature of the marriage.

"They're often trapped in their home. They don't have any connections outside of that house. They don't have any friends. They're prevented from speaking to their family back home," said Ms Lyneham.

"There are language barriers there - they're often threatened with deportation, with violence, with sexual violence, with physical violence and they don't have a level of trust with police that someone in Australia has."

The Salvation Army runs the only safe house for victims of human trafficking and slavery in Australia.

The organisation has helped about 40 women in the past year, who were referred to the safe house in a variety of ways, said spokeswoman Laura Vidal.

"One is they could potentially be hurt, to the point where they come to the attention of medical services and then medical services refer to the Salvation Army," she said.

"There's other community groups and migrant resources centres [where] we conduct education and outreach.

"We also have people in the safe house, who know of other people in the community who are experiencing similar things and then they come to be referred via their friends or family members."

Report recommends changes to visa system, greater penalties

The Institute of Criminology report recommends cases like these be treated as human trafficking and slavery offences, which attract a far greater penalty than domestic violence crimes.

The report recommends changes in the way the Immigration Department handles visa applications.

It recommends women be interviewed by the Immigration Department separately from their spouse when they are going through the application process.

Samantha Lyneham hopes the report will raise awareness in the wider community.

"Everyone hears about sex trafficking and to a greater extent now labour trafficking, but this is really something people don't know about," she said.