Nor should they be surprised it had arisen as an option, he told The Post.

”I find it strange there should be a public backlash,” Mr Kettle said this week.

“As Mayor and a member of the Southern NSW Health District Board I was talking about a public-private partnership for a long time, so it has been out there for well over two years.

“I still believe that as long as the model is right, it can deliver the same or a better level of care and jobs are safe, it doesn’t matter who delivers the service.”

On this, he said he was on the same page as Hume MP Angus Taylor.

But Mr Kettle said the Bourke Street Health Service shouldn’t be relocated until Goulburn Base Hospital was redeveloped. While it wasn’t necessarily a Board decision, members had not been fully informed.

“It’s an appropriate issue for people to worry about and it’s been mooted sooner rather than later,” he said. 

“...It’s incumbent on the Health District to fully liaise with the Community Consultative Committee (chaired by Jason Shepherd).”

Mr Kettle remains on the Board despite moving to the ACT. He said the Board was aware of this but he’d remain until his membership was reviewed.

Meantime, his successor, Bob Kirk said everyone in this day and age had to deal with economies of scale.

"(But) it is an issue and it seems to be the biggest one that I'm hearing about now," he said.

"How are they going to deliver the service from Bourke St? Oncology palliative care, the hydrotherapy pool also have to be provided. I'll be interested to see how this all happens...I'm looking for more answers too."

On Thursday, the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association said the Board should be sacked over the move but welcomed Goulburn MP Goward’s assurance this week she would fight to keep Bourke Street operating until the redevelopment was complete.

But the Association warned the opposition to privatisation was building.