Tricked or forced out of Australia: the vulnerable women at the centre of a hidden domestic violence crisis

Exit trafficking is illegal and is treated as a form of people trafficking under Australian law. The federal police received 30 reports of such cases last financial year. Photograph: Jasper James/Getty Images

Priya* hoped a short getaway to south-east Asia would repair her marriage.

It was planned after months of abuse and coercion at the hands of her husband – which began almost immediately after arriving in Australia – that became so bad she feared leaving their Melbourne home, she says.