NZ researcher stands up for civility

By ROBERT LOWE in Sydney

To New Zealander Nicole Billante, the scene on the bus she catches in Sydney is pretty much the same every morning.

The schoolgirls who get on early in the journey and claim seats for themselves cannot be bothered standing up for older passengers who board after them.

Billante says the youngsters are pleasant and generally well-behaved but, unlike previous generations, they lack something she believes is a crucial virtue in maintaining social order - civility.

A Canterbury University political science graduate, Billante is conducting research for the Centre for Independent Studies, a Sydney-based think tank, into the issue of civility and social structure.

The public use of expletives during the past fortnight by Australian Labour Party frontbencher Mark Latham and Queensland rugby league skipper Gorden Tallis has added topicality to her work.

Latham described Prime Minister John Howard's attitude to the United States as that of an "arse-licker", and Tallis launched a verbal tirade at a fan who held up a sign targeting the player's mother.

Billante's views on civility have appeared in Australian newspapers and on radio during the past month.

She believes showing consideration for others, often at one's own expense, is vital to maintaining social order.

Yet society nowadays is riddled with uncivil behaviour - like people talking annoyingly loudly on mobile phones, or swearing near children, or jumping queues.

The aim of Billante's study is to see if there is a causal link between incivility and crime, using New South Wales indicators, and possibly New Zealand ones later on.

She points to the broken window analogy of American social scientists James Wilson and George Kelling - if a broken window in a building is not fixed, other windows will get broken because people will think nobody cared.

"Incivility sends a message to potential criminals that social controls are lacking," she says.

Billante says when there is a breakdown in civil behaviour, the result is more government intervention leading to a loss of liberty.

She cites the Victorian Government's announcement last month of a code of practice for sporting associations in a bid to crack down on "ugly parent syndrome".

"Civility has always been the moral norm that has kept behaviour in check and allowed things to go smoothly," she says.

- NZPA