The bitter battle between Gina Rinehart and her three eldest children has escalated, with Australia's richest person threatening to withdraw the ''ransom insurance policy'' she holds for the family unless they agree to keep details of legal action private.
After intimate emails between Mrs Rinehart and two of her daughters were splashed across newspapers around the world last Friday, the iron ore magnate said she would discontinue the relevant insurance policies unless her children agreed to support her latest bid for a suppression order in court today.
A letter from Mrs Rinehart's lawyers to those acting for John Langley Hancock, Bianca Hope Rinehart and Hope Rinehart Welker, said the children's failure to support her application for a non-publication order on the emails and a security consultancy report - code-named Project Tara - was the catalyst for Mrs Rinehart's actions.
''We can only presume that your clients' previously stated concerns for the personal safety of their families and themselves have now completely and entirely disappeared,'' Paul McCann, a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, wrote.
''Under these circumstances, it seems that your clients would place no value in the continuation of 'ransom insurance' that is currently provided to them and/or their young children.
''Indeed, you may consider such insurance to be wasteful expenditure.''
Mr McCann said Mrs Rinehart would continue the insurance policies if lawyers acting for the children reversed their opposition to a suppression order before a NSW Supreme Court duty judge today.
Despite the High Court agreeing to stay the lifting of suppression orders encompassing the case until March 9, Mrs Rinehart's lawyers launched a fresh application on the grounds that Mrs Rinehart had ''genuine concerns'' for the safety of her children, her grandchildren and herself if details of the legal proceedings were made public.
The move appeared to backfire when NSW Supreme Court Justice Michael Ball refused Mrs Rinehart's application to stop the media from publishing the documents, including the risk assessment report that found the Rinehart family faced heightened security risks, including murder and terrorism, because of publicity about Mrs Rinehart and her wealth.
Mr McCann's letter included a transcript from Friday's A Current Affair television program in which an independent security advisor, Anthony Federico, agreed the family would be at increased risk, and said this ''should be brought to their attention prior to their decision''.
Mr Cann said,''Our client has been reluctant to discontinue the relevant insurance policies during these proceedings. However, given your clients about turn on this matter even after the abovementioned security report had been provided to them, our client is now exposed to attack by your clients if she continues this insurance for them.''
The emails, from Bianca Rinehart, who lives in Vancouver with her partner and child, and Ms Welker, who lives in New York with her husband Ryan and two daughters, request ''bodyguards and very safe homes'' because of their mother's growing profile as one of the world's richest women.
In a statement issued on Friday, Mr Hancock said he and his sisters remained highly concerned about the safety of themselves and their young children.
''I can support my wife and children in a modest manner from the work I do, but I can't provide the level of funds required to deal with security issues - real or imagined - associated with being the son of a woman worth more than $20billion,'' he said.
''When my mother buys a few hundred million dollars worth of Fairfax, it's going to draw some attention.
''But she won't share a penny to help protect her grandchildren from the risks she - the trustee of our family trust - is creating by her own actions.''
The children want their mother removed as trustee of the Hope Margaret Hancock trust, which was set up by their grandfather, the late Lang Hancock, before he died. Ginia, 25, is supporting her mother.
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