Barnaby Joyce once made a frank admission about pork-barrelling accusations: it's damned if you do and damned if you don't.
At the time, the deputy prime minister was responding to a question about whether locals in his tightly-contested New England seat could expect some goodies in the election campaign.
The answer was yes.
But what about the expected political response?
"Do you want to be a pork barreller or seen as ineffective?" Mr Joyce told AAP.
"I suppose if you've got to make a choice it's, `I better run with pork barrelling'."
The Nationals leader is now under attack after announcing he'll move the national pesticides regulator to Armidale in his electorate.
It's an unpopular decision - he's not only angered the peak plant science body but also the powerful farmers lobby group.
Even some of Mr Joyce's coalition colleagues don't support the planned relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.
Mr Joyce concedes there's apprehensiveness among staff to move. That may be putting it lightly.
The regulator's chief executive recently revealed most plant scientists weren't budging, raising fears the agency will have to rebuild from scratch and potentially leave products waiting for approval.
There are also questions as to why the agriculture minister didn't wait for a cost-benefit analysis into the relocation, expected by industry in a matter of weeks.
Labor suspects the Ernst & Young report didn't exactly endorse the plan - an embarrassing prospect for Mr Joyce on a plan he's been fighting for a year.
Meanwhile, Mr Joyce also faced accusations he's got a conflict of interest over donations from an oil and gas giant.
Not surprisingly it came from the man who once held New England and now wants it back.
Tony Windsor wants answers over the $80,000 in donations the Nationals accepted between 2011-15 from Santos, which he's linked to legislation for the so-called water trigger.
Mr Joyce didn't address the claim, instead dismissing it in his usual style.
"It's a very sad poo-throwing exercise," he said.
