The push to decentralise public service agencies rooted in Canberra has built enough momentum for the government to begin treating a wayward policy as received wisdom.
From its beginnings when Barnaby Joyce plucked the national pesticides authority from the ACT for Armidale, a small city in his New England electorate, decentralisation has taken on a life of its own in a nationwide public debate growing more attuned to regional grievances.
When a Senate inquiry into the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority's troubled move north started, regions flooded its submissions webpage with calls to bring an agency to their patch too. It was an early sign that decentralisation, regardless of its problems, could touch other agencies.
By announcing it will expand its effort to move the public service into the bush, the Coalition has decided to turn one ill-advised relocation into an all-out attack on Canberra.
Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash took on the defiant and unapologetic tone of her party colleagues talking about their decentralisation project on Wednesday.
But no matter how much the Nationals appeal to anti-city feeling in the regions, and boast of country towns' ability to host agencies, their policy remains a blueprint for misadventure with potential to backfire on the government, damage its public sector and gut Canberra's core workforce.
The government will require departments to justify why their operation is unsuitable for a move to the regions, and create a template for ministers to assess which are suited for decentralisation.
It's a reversal of the onus of proof for such a large move. If sense prevailed, any decision to relocate would be made by agencies and begin with the question: which location best suits your needs?
The Coalition's approach at face value prioritises the welfare of regional towns above the successful operation of the agencies it asks to move, which have become pawns in the Nationals' bid to keep hold of their regions in the face of a resurgent One Nation party.
Industries relying on agencies for productivity will be another victim in the decentralisation bid, some of which - particularly agriculture and mining - are the lifeblood of the regional towns the Nationals say they're advocating.
Should decentralisation make industries less competitive when public service agencies struggle to meet targets amid staff resignations - as has happened at the APVMA - regional towns will hurt as much as the rest of the economy.
The Senate inquiry has shown how much agriculture stands to lose from the APVMA's move to Armidale, and has laid bare the long-term disruption it will cause an agency that was struggling already to meet performance standards.
Other departments will take note. It should give the Coalition pause, but Mr Joyce and the Nationals are moving at full speed instead.
Any opponents to the decentralisation push will start well in their arguments by remembering that they are fighting a political decision, not a rational one.