Can Australian local government play a meaningful role in the development of social capital in disadvantaged rural communities?

There is now widespread acceptance of the critical role social capital and its attendant dimension of a 'sense of place' can play in nurturing poor ru ral communities and in reversing the current trend towards growing regional economic and social disparities. Although stare and federal governments ca n undoubtedly assist in the accumulation of social capital in poor rural co mmunities, it has been persuasively argued that local communities themselve s hold the key to the health of peripheral rural and provincial areas. The question thus ar-ises as to whether local government can indeed foster the development of social capital given its present range of functions.