Wool industry heads have warned senators against any moves to relocate their offices from Sydney to a regional centre.
Senior executives at Australian Wool Innovation have been asked - and have declined - to make a submission to a Senate inquiry into relocations.
"We don't think that if we move to Bourke or somewhere we can conduct our marketing as well as we can in Sydney," chairman Walter Merriman told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.
"You just cannot promote yourself in a tin shed at Dubbo or somewhere else."
Liberal senator Anne Ruston bristled at his turn of phrase.
"I'm not quite sure Dubbo would consider itself a remote town, but there you go," she said.
Mr Merriman met with Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce about eight months ago and made it clear the company didn't want to move.
AWI chief executive Stuart McCullough said shifting offices from The Rocks would have a "profound" impact on staffing levels.
The company recently downsized its Sydney digs, signing a seven-year lease and slashing its monthly rental costs by 35 per cent (from about $80,00 to $50,000) by shifting from an A-class to a B-class building.
About 60 per cent of its overall budget is pumped into marketing with the remaining 40 per cent spent on research and development.
The hot button political issue of relocations reared its head again when dairy leaders took their seats at the table.
Dairy Australia has not been asked to vacate its Melbourne headquarters in favour of the regions, and has no intention of moving.
The vast majority of its 70-strong staff are based in Melbourne, with a handful dotted around the country.
"We do have a strong presence in the bush and it continues to grow ... we see this hub and spoke-model as very important," chairman Geoff Akers told senators.
He stressed the importance of being close to large research centres, including a whopping science facility in Melbourne.
Labor senator Greg Sterle joked about moving the scientists to Armidale in NSW, referring to the forced relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority from Canberra to Mr Joyce's regional electorate.
Nationals senator Bridget Mackenzie was not impressed.
"You know there are scientists out in the regions, Senator Sterle, and I really take offence to the inference that the clever people live in the city, and the not clever people live in the regions," she said.
Senators will scrutinise the APVMA relocation later in the day.
