Being crowned the richest woman in the Asia-Pacific region doesn’t protect you from family drama.
Despite the best efforts of mining and media giant Gina Rinehart to keep the spat with her children private, fascinating emails from her progeny have become public thanks to a case in the NSW Supreme Court where three of the kids are suing Gina over control of a family trust.
The emails show that the Rineharts, like many families, worry about money and safety. But the bar is considerably higher.
In particular, 27-year-old Hope Welker told her mother last year that she was down to her last $60,000, complained that she didn’t have the money to protect herself or her children, and said she could not afford staff such as a chef (worth $250,000), bodyguard ($100,000) or housekeeper ($55,000) that her less wealthy friends could afford.
In emails released yesterday, it’s revealed that Hope wrote to her mother in July 2011: “I don’t think you understand what it means now that the whole world thinks you’re going to be wealthier than Bill Gates – it means we all need bodyguards and very safe homes!”
“Especially the children who are small and easily targeted for kidnap.”
“No country (not even Singapore) is safe, I don’t have the money to protect myself or my children and it scares me.”
“I should have enough money to have a bodyguard, housekeeper and cook.”
“Even my friends who have nothing compared to your wealth have more staff.”
Hope added that she could not live in Australia or Singapore because it would be “horribly unfair” to expose her children to the media spotlight.
“It’s hard enough being a kid let alone the peer pressure that comes from being the wealthiest one in the country,” she says.
“I really do need a safer apartment but ironically I can’t afford it!”
Her sister Bianca Rinehart wrote to her mother on August 4 last year that she could not afford to properly protect herself, requesting Gina to either “sponsor” security personnel or make funds available to do so.
Bianca also drew attention to the Madeleine Pulver case in Sydney last year, in which a man entered her family home and put a collar bomb on the teenage girl.
Bianca wrote: “Chum no doubt you heard about the unnerving situation yesterday involving a bomb and an 18-year-old girl at a home in Mosman.”
“Thank goodness Hope and family have moved overseas as we all otherwise would have been so much more concerned.”
The emails were written shortly before the women, plus brother John, launched a bid to remove their mother as trustee to the family’s multimillion-dollar trust, which controls a quarter of the family business Hancock Prospecting. Only Ginia Rinehart has sided with her mother.
Justice Michael Ball ruled yesterday that the safety of Gina’s children and grandchildren would not be breached by allowing these details to be released.
However, the full details of the case remain suppressed until at least March 9 following a decision by the High Court earlier this week.
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