Australians make up the largest portion of foreign sex offenders against children in Thailand, according to a study.
Researchers at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore studied patterns of arrests and prosecutions between 1995 and 2006 as part of a plan to tackle the $36.6bn industry in child sex trafficking.
Bernadette McMenamin, CEO of Child Wise Australia, said child sex trafficking remains a hidden problem that most Australians have become complacent about.
"People tell us, 'It happens overseas. Isn't that an issue we talked about years ago?'
"But what we've found is that ... the supply and demand factors fuelling child sex slavery have actually grown,'' she said.
Ms McMenamin said most Australians view the price of petrol as a greater concern than the welfare of foreign children.
"We have increased awareness and there have been some arrests but overall we're not putting a dent in the problem,'' she said.
"We need people to try and think beyond what's going on in their lives.''
"The number of children entering the trade has grown. Efforts to combat this problem have not succeeded despite pouring money into overseas governments.''
A new global campaign called Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People, will be launched today to help reverse the trend and raise awareness among Australians about the problem.
In February, Child Wise will step up the campaign by backing stalled amendments to child sex tourism laws in the Federal Parliament.
Rather than seeing authorities wait for child sex to occur before acting, the amendments seek out preparatory offences: stopping sex offenders from travelling overseas, buying flights and possessing child pornography.
"We've waited long enough,'' Ms McMenamin says of the proposed changes.
"We're simply not keeping up with travelling sex offenders.''
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