MAIL ORDER BRIDES - A few bad experiences
"A few of them have mail order brides down here for six months and then just leave them. They think it's cheaper than paying for a prostitute and a housekeeper." When the new woman's patience finally expires, the welfare sector is left to pick up the pieces. Going back to families in the Philippines is often not an option. Many are devout Roman Catholics who do not believe in divorce. Ms Dicka - also a former nun - spends much of her time hiding mail order brides from husbands who often become obsessive about finding them. "Some of these men hunt them down; they never feel safe, they never know who is at their door; they have children to protect," she said. Dr Robyn Iredale, of Wollongong University, recently completed the first major investigation into mail order brides. "There's a power imbalance. These guys are nice and sweet and everything when they're up in Manila but, when they have convinced the mail order brides to marry them, it's a different story," she said. "We found 110 guys who are what we call serial sponsors and we didn't even get right into it." She's was unapologetic about her desire to see governments in Australia and the Philippines swap information on men who continually married and left mail order brides.
Filipino mail order brides are the most vulnerable
The Immigration Minister, Senator Bolkus, was concerned at the civil liberties implications of supplying information on men who had been married before. He described the idea of limiting the amount of mail order brides marriages a person could have as "social engineering at its worst". Dr Iredale conceded the civil liberties point but asked which nation got the best civil liberties. "Many's the Manila millionaire who has transformed into a Melbourne misery guts. There comes a time when you've just got to say 'enough's enough'," she said. "Look, if one of these people has been married five times in five years to Filipino mail order brides, I think you have to ask questions."
