KATRINA Hodgkinson says she doesn’t regret opposing the greyhound racing ban, following her dumping as parliamentary secretary.

“I totally expected this result and I don’t shy away from what I said one little bit. I’d do it all again,” the Burrinjuck MP told the Post.

By Saturday afternoon Ms Hodgkinson said Deputy Premier Troy Grant had still not contacted her.

“It would have been nice to get a call,” she told the Post on Saturday. 

“If it was me, the first person I would call is the one losing their job, and their replacement, the last person.”

But she was not disappointed by her removal, saying she “totally expected it.”

Meantime, Mayor Geoff Kettle has condemned Ms Hodgkinson’s sacking.

“It’s disgraceful and completely undemocratic and a further example of the dictatorship of this Premier,” he said on Sunday.

“How is it that an MP on the conservative side of politics, which believes that freedom of speech is part of being a State member, can be castigated by their party for speaking out?”

Cr Kettle said Ms Hodgkinson and Parliamentary Secretary for Northern NSW Chris Gulaptis were only echoing their electorates’ views and indeed, what many of their own MPs were saying publicly and privately.

He contacted Ms Hodgkinson on Saturday.

The Mayor did not resile from earlier comments that Goulburn MP Pru Goward had “done the wrong thing by her electorate” in not opposing the greyhound racing ban.

“But as a member of Cabinet she is bound by certain rules and I understand why she voted the way she did,” he said.

“But Katrina and Chris are not members of the Cabinet and only spoke out about what a lot of people in her party were saying.”

Cr Kettle is a Liberal party member and former electorate officer for the late Member for Hume, Alby Schultz.

But he said the electorate and the greyhound industry should keep this decision in the back of their mind at the next State election.

“There’s a lot to be said for independents coming through at the next election,” he said. 

FRIDAY 11:30PM

KATRINA Hodgkinson discovered by media release that she had been dumped from her portfolio.

The Greyhound racing industry and others have rallied to her support following her sacking as parliamentary secretary for Southern NSW today.

“I feel for Katrina Hodgkinson and Chris Gulaptis (Parliamentary secretary for Northern NSW). You're punishing them for standing up for their community,” Labor MP Sonia Hornery tweeted.

In a statement issued this afternoon Ms Hodgkinson said she could only assume she was dumped because she crossed the floor on the Greyhound Racing Prohibition Bill on Tuesday. Her Nationals colleague  Chris Gulaptis did the same.

“My thoughts today are with the many people living in regional NSW who are involved in some way with the greyhound racing industry, who this time next year will be either looking for work or looking to relocate their homes,” Ms Hodgkinson said.

“I found out this afternoon by media release that my role as Parliamentary Secretary has been given to Bronny Taylor and I hope she enjoys the regional leaders forum in Wagga Wagga next Monday and Tuesday.

“The legislation to ban greyhound racing that went through the parliament this week is un-Australian, and ill-thought. It will affect many regional communities, not just my electorate of Cootamundra.”

Last month the Goulburn Greyhound Club and Mayor Geoff Kettle enlisted her support to save the local industry.

On Wednesday Cr Kettle commended Ms Hodgkinson and Barwon MP Kevin Humphries for crossing the floor. In contrast he said Goulburn MP Pru Goward had “let down her electorate.”

This morning he tempered those remarks on radio, saying he understood Ms Goward was bound by party protocol.

Deputy Premier and Nationals leader Troy Grant also said he was proud of the MPs for standing up for their electorates.

It’s the second time Ms Hodgkinson has lost a portfolio. Soon after the 2015 election she was dumped as Primary Industries Minister and replaced by Niall Blair.

Just months before, she had decided to challenge sitting Liberal MP Pru Goward for the seat of Goulburn. But she subsequently pulled out amid a turbulent Coalition split and reported pressure. Her sacking was widely viewed as punishment.

In Parliament on Tuesday Ms Hodgkinson said the ban would undoubtedly hurt communities like Goulburn, which had 2500 associate members and many others in her Burrinjuck electorate. 

She crossed the floor for the first time in her 17-year political career.

“I have made this move with a terribly heavy heart and considerable emotional torment. I am furious that it has come to this when so many alternatives exist,” she said. 

“...I have been threatened for expressing my views by some who have served in this place for periods far less than me. So be it,” she said.

“ After 17 years I will happily stand by my reasoning. To serve in Parliament members must have some guiding principles that are innate and not instructed.”