Local government in Cowra was a specialised political arena, in that it acknowledged, and gave expression to, a particular set of ideals. These ideals were called upon successfully by the business and farming sectors of the population as they pursued their interests. The ideals were not, however, so easily called upon by others, and moreover, they could cloud the interests of others. The business and farm sectors were made powerful by these ideals.

The process of exclusion was not necessarily a product of conscious action on the part of farm and business people, nor was it always, nor indeed often, recognised as such by others. Rather, political actors endeavoured to act in ways which they and their electorate believed would serve the common interest of everybody in the district. The product of this high ambition became symbolic conflict; the common ideals consisted largely of efficiency and the maintenance of local tradition, expressed symbolically by assault on bureaucracy, during which the parameters were defined from the perspective of business and farm interests.

These processes occurred in a rural district whose people were conscious of a dependent and subordinate relationship with metropolitan Australia. They looked upon their subservience as a contributing factor in impending economic decline. The process of centralisation had removed large amounts of local autonomy, and government policies which had fostered growth and prosperity had been reversed. Cowra people, however, looked to, and may be increasingly dependent on, government support.