Building Multicultural Social Capital in Regional Australia

Abstract

Over the last decade the Commonwealth government has directed increasing numbers of humanitarian migrants to non-metropolitan areas. The objective of this regional settlement plan has been an attempt to ensure that country areas also enjoy the economic and cultural benefits that migrants can bring. This article provides case studies of Greater Shepparton and Toowoomba; two of the centres which received influxes of new arrivals. The experience of Greater Shepparton has been very positive; Toowoomba much less so. We draw on social capital theory to explain why the program in Greater Shepparton has been more successful than Toowoomba. The analysis demonstrates that Greater Shepparton had built extensive reserves of both bonding and bridging social capital, while Toowoomba had only limited reserves of bonding social capital. We argue, however, that if the regional settlement program is to be effective in the longer term, it must be seeded in communities that have developed elements of not only bonding and bridging social capital, but also institutional social capital as well.