South Australian Health Minister Blair Boyer is clashing with a former City of Adelaide Councillor and high-profile Freemason Henry Davis over the repayment of close to $1 million in taxpayers dollars given to a now defunct regional hospital for healthcare services.

The 20-bed McLaren Vale and Districts War Memorial Hospital stopped operating as a hospital in 2023 and the site is now controlled by board chair Davis – a mayoral candidate for next year’s City of Adelaide council election.

A recent independent auditor’s report claimed the hospital owes the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN) $987,000, paid for ongoing hospital operations, and Boyer wants it back.

Davis and his board, that includes George Mamalis who leads right-wing political organisation Turning Point Australia’s SA branch (the late Charlie Kirk’s US group), says their legal advice is to not repay the funds. He says they were already spent on maintaining hospital operations.

The current board repaid $200,000 to the state government in 2025.

Boyer said the SALHN was “seeking further advice about the next steps to recoup the funds owed” and InDaily understands this includes receiving his own legal advice.

“Reminder notices have been formally issued to the board, urging it to repay the money owed,” Boyer said.

“Unfortunately, the McLaren Vale hospital board has responded disputing the debt and has so far refused to make any payments.

“This is money that could otherwise be spent to improve healthcare in the southern suburbs.”

Davis was previously embroiled in successful court action against the McLaren Vale hospital’s former board after it wanted to give the hospital to a nearby aged care facility. A Supreme Court judgment in October, 2024, found that proposed transfer was invalid.

This led to a confidential settlement and control of the board being passed to Davis.

You might like

In Depth

‘Cane toad of the sky’: How Australia turned on the Indian myna

In Depth

Politics reflects society, and ours is in poor shape on many fronts

Members now on the board include Mamalis, Michael Baragwanath – the board’s treasurer,  McLaren Vale local Trish Tassie, actor Maris Caune, InDaily 2026 40 Under 40 recipient Cyrus Rafizadeh, physiotherapist Andrew Keith and Grand Secretary of the SA Freemasons Boyd Sparrow.

State government claims for repayment of some funds were also disputed by the former board.

The hospital’s auditor, Ian Mostert from Not For Profit Accounting Services, found that the organisation made payments totalling $271,608 in settlement of the legal dispute with the former board.

This was partly paid out to Davis’s law firm – HLD Legal, for legal expenses.

The remaining $146,683 was paid to a firm called Barra Consulting Group Pty Ltd, a consulting firm connected to Baragwanath, who is also behind the construction of Keystone Tower at the Freemason’s Hall on North Terrace.

You might like

In Depth

‘Cane toad of the sky’: How Australia turned on the Indian myna

In Depth

Politics reflects society, and ours is in poor shape on many fronts

The makeup of the new hospital board has been questioned in parliament.

SA Deputy Premier Kyam Maher – in response to a question without notice from Robert Simms on August 20 this year – said: “The Minister for Health and Wellbeing is concerned with the composition of the board, which is largely influenced by conservative political activists, and encourages the MVDWMH to repay their outstanding monies”.

Davis described Maher’s statements as “ridiculous and quite bizarre”.

“I encourage the Deputy Premier to focus on improving health services in SA, not making spurious claims. I encourage the Health Minister to comply with the dispute resolution sections of the contract and not litigate matters through the media,” he said.

In terms of the legal fees, the auditor wrote in his report that: “We requested access to the settlement agreement to verify the nature and basis of the legal fees expense”.

“However, the board declined to provide the agreement, citing confidentiality clauses contained therein,” the auditor’s report reads.

Davis said the settlement arrangements were “confidential, in part to protect the interests and privacy of the parties involved”.

“The auditor’s qualification identifies an evidentiary limitation; it does not constitute a finding of unlawful conduct,” Davis said.

In reference to the disputed state government funding for the hospital, Davis said the hospital will not pay the funds back, saying they were already spent on maintaining hospital operations and on ensuring beds were kept available for public patients under the agreement.

“The liability is disputed”, Davis said.

“The funds were applied to the purposes for which they were provided, and the hospital disputes any suggestion that the government is entitled to recover them simply because it did not utilise the capacity made available.”

He was unhappy about the state government commenting, saying, “It would seem the government is willing to speak with InDaily but not the service provider.”

“Simply put, the contract allows for operational costs, including wind-up and termination costs. We have requested contractual dispute resolution meetings, which the government has ignored,” said Davis, a lawyer and who is a Freemason also behind the proposed North Terrace skyscraper.

However, a state government spokesperson said no formal meeting request was received, and the CEO of the South Adelaide Health Network was “happy to meet with them about the debt”.

Davis said in relation to the Supreme Court case, this resulted in “costly litigation”, and that the payments “represented reimbursement of legal and other third-party expenses actually incurred in connection with those proceedings”.

“No board member received remuneration or a personal financial benefit from the settlement beyond reimbursement of costs incurred,” Davis said.

Davis was also a running mate of SA Legislative Councillor Sarah Game earlier this year but the relationship ended before the state election.

The relationship has clearly cooled.

In October, Game raised other concerns about McLaren Vale and Districts War Memorial Hospital Incorporated in a speech to SA Parliament.

Speaking under parliamentary privilege, a legal protection which shields Game from defamation proceedings, she said: “Claims of intimidation and oppressive conduct have been made by the old board, leaving the future of the land, the hospital, the GP practice and other allied health services on the site unknown”.

“Members of the McLaren Vale hospital have made complaints to the regulator about the conduct of the current board, but the government regulator says they do not have the powers to investigate. They suggest these individuals begin a legal case in the Supreme Court.

“Matters related to bullying and membership stacking ought to be resolved without needing to go to the Supreme Court.”

In response, Davis described this as an “attempt to smear me”.

“Sarah Game used the protection of parliamentary privilege to say things she wouldn’t dare say outside of parliament,” he said.

“If she had any confidence at all in her claims, then she should walk out the front of parliament and repeat them. She won’t.

“There’s a bitter irony in a Family First MP attacking a community hospital working to restore maternity services and create a safe, supportive environment for mothers to bring new life into the world. How exactly is that putting families first?”

And to add further layers, the auditor raised red flags over the fiscal position of the hospital, which made a loss of close to $1 million in the 2025 financial year.

In the hospital’s 2025 financial report – only recently published publicly – the independent auditor of the incorporation determined there was a “material uncertainty that may cause significant doubt over its ability to continue operating for another year”.

CEO of management group Equila Jesse Trout – hired by the McLaren Vale Hospital board to transform the site into a new health precinct – earlier this year called on the state government to fund the site so it could accept patients again.

“Our immediate priorities are to finalise arrangements with an established aged-care provider, conclude negotiations with a midwifery services provider, and continue developing the hospital’s existing health and community programs,” Davis said.

“The objective is to restore clinically appropriate, financially sustainable services while preserving the hospital’s community ownership.”

Davis told InDaily that the “hospital’s financial position has improved considerably over the past year”.

“We expect further significant improvement as additional tenants occupy the premises and generate ongoing rental income,” he said.

Davis said he first became interested in the hospital after being approached by local community members.

“The hospital is not simply a collection of buildings or a commercial asset. It is a community-owned institution, established through the contributions and commitment of generations of local people,” he said.

“I could see serious issues with the proposal (from the previous board) to gift away the hospital and I was asked to step in and protect this community asset.”