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Addresses the dialogue on new strategies for public unions by arguing that labor in the public sector is uniquely political. Rather than imitating their private counterparts by relying on economic actions, public sector unions should develop their political potential to build a broad based political movement capable of redefining the public agenda. (SJK)

In his Budget Statement this year the Chancellor restated his medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) and in particular his objectives for the public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR). He said, 'Since its inception in 1980 the MTFS has indicated a steadily declining path for the PSBR expressed as a percentage of GDP. We have now reached what I judge to be its appropriate destination: a PSBR of 1 per cent of GDP. My aim will be to keep it there over the years ahead. This note considers the implications of that scale of borrowing for the balance sheet position of the public sector. We are able to do this with more confidence thanks to recent publication by the CSO of new figures for the balance sheet positions of all sectors of the economy up to the end of 1985. Prior to that publication, the latest figures available for the overall balance sheet position of the public sector had referred to 1975. The new data modify the picture of recent trends, without changing their character fundamentally.

Reform is never far from the centre of public administration practice and scholarship. In this article Doug McTaggart, the chairman of the Queensland Public Service Commission, and Janine O'Flynn, from the University of Melbourne, explore the challenges of reform and the state of play. McTaggart, who was a commissioner on the Queensland Commission of Audit, sets out the case that business as usual will no longer suffice given the range of challenges faced by governments. He sets out to explain how we ended up in our current state and what needs to happen to repair it, drawing on deep experience in the practice of reform. O'Flynn positions reform as one of the central questions in public administration and management and makes the case for rethinking reform conceptually to drive change in practice. In doing so she points to our weaknesses in determining whether reform fails or succeeds and makes the case that, until we rethink reform, business as usual might be all we end up with. McTaggart and O'Flynn bring together the expertise of practice and academia to bring new insights in this persistent challenge of public administration, and raise a series of questions for debate.

This special issue of The Leadership &Organizational Development Journal adoptsas its theme, ''Public sector leadership''.Many would argue that the turbulence thatcurrently characterises the operatingenvironment of public sector organizationshighlights a need, more than ever before, foreffective leadership