Hospital treasurer’s demand in ongoing dispute over funding
A clash between the board of a regional hospital and the state government has escalated. Meanwhile, issues have been raised regarding the financials of an investment firm one board member is connected to.
McLaren Vale and Districts War Memorial Hospital board treasurer Michael Baragwanath has written to the Health Minister, Deputy Premier and Premier of South Australia, demanding resolution of a dispute over government funding.
It follows InDaily’s revelations yesterday that SA 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.
Baragwanath last night wrote to the state government ministers saying: “We are particularly disappointed that the government is willing to communicate through the media while refusing to engage directly with a community-owned institution”.
Baragwanath is also the lead consultant for a joint project between Ross Pelligra and the Freemasons of SA and NT, to build a $450 million skyscraper Keystone Tower behind the Freemasons Hall on North Terrace.
Davis is a Freemason as is another hospital board member Boyd Sparrow.
Baragwanath’s letter was accompanied by two emails – dated August 15, 2026, and February 11, 2026, – that he claimed illustrated attempts made by the hospital board to contact the state government.
You might like
He wanted resolution of the “disputed invoice” and said the board took “deep offence at Deputy Premier Kyam Maher’s comments concerning the political persuasions of association board members”.
Boyer – 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”.
Baragwanath wrote: “Our board comprises community members volunteering their time to restore essential health services. Their personal political views are entirely irrelevant to the association’s entitlement to procedural fairness”.
“We ask the Deputy Premier to clarify whether he believes that community organisations should receive different treatment depending on the political affiliations of their directors,” he wrote.
The hospital board includes Davis, Baragwanath, George Mamalis – who leads right-wing political organisation Turning Point Australia’s SA branch (the late Charlie Kirk’s US group), 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.
A state government spokesperson said the previous Health Minister met with representatives of the Board in 2025.
Stay informed, daily
“There has been no further request for the State Government to meet with the McLaren Vale Hospital Board regarding its outstanding debts,” the spokesperson said.
“Minister Boyer has not received a request to meet since becoming the Minister for Health and Wellbeing.
“The Southern Adelaide Local Health Network has been in regular communication with the Board’s representatives and responded earlier this year with information about the debt recovery process, including providing advice on the next legal steps required. It remains willing to meet and has proactively reached out to schedule a meeting.”
Baragwanath is also the managing director of Sydney-based investment firm Clime Investment Management. Davis is also on the board as a non-executive director.
Clime Investment Management is the fund manager of another ASX-listed firm, Clime Capital, that has been facing scrutiny from the Australian Securities Exchange.
Last week, the ASX questioned how Clime Capital decided its valuation of assets that are not listed on the ASX and that its auditor KPMG had raised similar issues.
Its auditor said in a report that the company’s reported $36.2 million of $58.3 million it holds in unlisted trusts could not be tested by the September 30 deadline to lodge its audited annual report.
“During our testing… sufficient evidence such as reliable financial information was not available from the investment manager of unlisted unit trust comprising $36,205,754 to enable us to test these trusts’ net asset values at 30 June 2026,” the auditor wrote.
“In the absence of alternate evidence, we were unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the fair value of these unlisted unit trusts as at 30 June 2026.”
The annual report showed Clime Capital achieved an after-tax profit of $10.3 million. On Friday, its value was about $84.3 million and shares were down about 13 per cent over the past six months.
In response to questions from the ASX about why evidence, such as reliable financial information, was not provided to the auditor, Clime Capital chair John Abernethy said the “auditor requested a significant amount of new and additional information including recent valuations for all unlisted assets”.
“The time required to obtain recent valuations, complete year-end reporting and verify security arrangements for some relevant unlisted unit trusts meant that the relevant external investment manager was not able to provide all the evidence requested by the company’s auditor within the FY27 audit timetable,” Abernethy wrote.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
