Law enforcement officials anticipate the centre will identify and remove from harm more than 200 child victims each year.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says every nine minutes a child somewhere in the world appears on a web page being sexually exploited while young girls are still sold off into forced marriages.

"It's horrific at every turn," he told the Nine Network on Sunday.

Read more: Indonesia now number one destination for Australian child rapists

He said the government wants to protect Australian children while working with its partners within the southeast Asia region and across the world to end the scourge.

"We have cancelled a record number of visas of criminals who are here who have abused and violated Australian children," he said.

"We want to make sure we can target those Australian-based paedophiles as well."

The new Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation centre will be based in Brisbane because of its proximity to the Asia-Pacific and its status as a cyber hub.

It will bring together the expertise of the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Austrac, the Office of the Cyber Coordinator, the Australian Border Force, Australian Institute of Criminology and other areas of the Department of Home Affairs.

In a joint statement with Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Minister Angus Taylor, Mr Dutton said while the Federal-State Joint Anti Child Exploitation Teams have been effective and will continue to operate, the problem of child abuse and exploitation is getting bigger.

The scale and complexity of the challenge are compounded by the continuing evolution of technology for what is a borderless crime.

"In the digital era, it has never been easier for perpetrators to contact children and share images of abuse and torture through global networks," they said.

Australian Associated Press