Sydney Morning Herald reported that the bitter battle between Ms 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 the legal action private.

After intimate emails between Mrs Rinehart and two of her daughters were splashed across newspapers around the world on 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 her 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.

(Sourced from smh.com.au)