An old hospital site in southern New South Wales has sold for the second time in a year — for a 500 percent profit.

The NSW health department sold the old Gundagai hospital in early 2015, after building an new hospital next door.

Contracts have now settled for the old hospital’s next sale, to a Sydney doctor, for $650,000.

NSW Upper House MP Mick Veitch, who was born in the old Gundagai hospital, was astounded when he heard the price.

“Well, I’m gobsmacked. Congratulations to the person who bought it for $110,000 and was able to turn it around for so much money in such a short time,” Mr Veitch said.

“At the time, I was concerned that the old site sold for significantly below what I thought was the market value. And this new sale shows my views were justified.”

“There does need to be some investigation as to why the difference in the price.”

Gundagai community leaders shared Mr Veitch’s concerns about the original sale.

Elders real estate principal Jim Saunderson said the latest sale was embarrassing.

Gundagai GP Paul Mara says it was further evidence of the need for a public inquiry.

“How did the health department arrive at that sale price of $110,000, only for it to be sold for so much just a year later?” Dr Mara said.

In 2014, a Gundagai community group opted not to bid for the hospital, because they could not raise enough money to meet the listed price.

They were outraged when they learned the State Government then sold it for significantly lower than the listed price.

Mr Veitch said records obtained under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 showed NSW Health was concerned about the cost of asbestos remediation.

“And that’s part of the reason the health bureaucrats at the time let the building go for the price they did,” Mr Veitch said.

New owner considers plans for refugee support

The new owner, Sydney general practitioner Nirmal Taluja, said the site was listed for $1.5million, but she negotiated for $650,000.

According to her practice website, Dr Taluja has 40 years’ medical experience, including as head doctor at Sydney’s Auburn Hospital.

“What I’m thinking is why don’t I make an establishment centre to help refugees?” she said.

“The government can achieve so much out of that if you do a settlement commission where the people can start, and the government can give them incentives rather than unemployment benefits.”

She said the centre would teach refugees how to farm, before assigning them some land to look after.

“Of course I have to do a lot of work for it. I’d like to have Australia do something for these refugees, but we have some gain out of it,” Dr Taluja said.

She said it was one of three options she was considering.

The others were a boarding house for homeless people, and a palliative care centre.

“Gundagai is beautiful. I would love to retire there myself,” Dr Taluja said.

“Whatever is proposed for the site isn’t as important now as what will happen about the remediation of that building and that site,” Mr Veitch said.

“There are asbestos issues, and we need to make sure the remediation is done properly.”

Dr Taluja said she would now approach government and community groups for assistance realising one of her plans.

A man in a hurry has lost his licence, a stack of cash and his BMW after he was allegedly clocked at 200km/h on the Hume Highway on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old was first noticed whistling along the dual-carriageway by highway patrol officers conducting speed checks at Mundarlo, near South Gundagai, around 5pm.

The vehicle was stopped near the Snowy Mountains Highway soon after, and police spoke to the man behind the wheel before issuing him with a $2350 infringement notice for exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h.

The BMW was towed from the scene and it will be three months before it is back in the hands of the owner, police said.

It’ll also be a further three months until he can get back behind the wheel after being dealt a six-month licence suspension along with the fine and confiscation.

Excessive speeding and dangerous driving on NSW roads continues to be a target of police, the head of NSW Police’s traffic and highway patrol command Assistant Commissioner John Hartley said.

“We are working hard to educate people on road safety through campaigns like Toward Zero, which is about lowering the road toll, but we also need to continue to target bad driver behaviour,” Assistant Commissioner Hartley said.

“Our ongoing road enforcement activities across the state aim to ensure those people who are putting put their own lives and the lives of others at risk on our roads by doing the wrong thing are targeted and detected.”

A man who failed to appear in court on a child sex charge 18 years ago has been arrested in Wagga Wagga.

Kings Cross detectives have been conducting recent inquiries into the man’s whereabouts following a review of outstanding cases.

The man had initially been arrested by police on 30 January 1998 for the offence of sexual assault upon a child, allegedly relating to a 14-year-old girl, in Darlinghurst.

A conviction warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear in court.

Last month, police in Victoria arrested the 39-year-old man after information was provided by Kings Cross detectives.

He appeared at Melbourne Magistrates Court in late July and was granted bail to reappear at Central Local Court in Sydney on Wednesday 3 August 2016, but failed to appear.

A new warrant was issued for the man’s arrest and he was located by police from Wagga Wagga Local Area Command the following day.

The 39-year-old man has been refused bail and is expected to appear at Central Local Court on Friday 12 August 2016.

Krueger Transport Equipment has just completed the construction of a new PBS-approved Super B-double skel for Canny Carrying – a purchase that will benefit the Victorian fleet’s container service in more ways than one.

The Hume Highway remains one of the Australia’s most important transport routes – over 800km of road linking Melbourne and Sydney. On the southern end of the route, family-owned Canny Carrying cherishes the highway as much as its own yard and specs its vehicles to get the most out of every trip.

Canny uses the Hume daily to transport a variety of freight, including general goods, local commodities, chemicals and farming machinery to be either exported or for its end customers in New South Wales and Queensland. “Those runs also include traveling between our Wangaratta site to our depot in Derrimut, Sydney or Albury, as well as long haul trips to Brisbane,” says Co-Director, Greg Canny. “A large portion of goods are delivered via containers, so it’s vital that our trailing gear is up to the task.”

Instead of adding more trucks and trailers to carry out more jobs, Greg says he has found the ideal solution to address Canny’s job requirements and still keep vehicle purchases to a minimum – making the most out of the company’s longstanding relationship with trailer expert, Krueger.