Joyce slammed for ‘dangerous’ emails to Rinehart daughter

Bianca Rinehart has called for the restoration of family harmony after gaining control of the family’s trust fund.

27/04/15 Darling Point, NSW © Andrew Murray Bianca Rinehart leaving the Federal Court with her legal team

Bianca Rinehart has broken her silence following yesterday’s NSW Supreme Court decision that installed her as head of the family’s multi-billion dollar trust fund, calling for a restoration of “family harmony.”

In a big win for Bianca and her brother John Hancock over their mother Gina Rinehart, Justice Paul Brereton yesterday ordered that Bianca be made trustee of the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust.

The trust holds 23.5 per cent of the Mrs Rinehart’s flagship company Hancock Prospecting with trust worth between $4 billion and $5 billion dollars.

In a marked reference to her grandfather iron ore magnate Lang Hancock who set up the trust for the benefit of his grandchildren, Bianca said “our family is very fortunate thanks to the vision of my grandfather.

In her statement, Bianca made no mention of her mother, who she and her brother John Hancock fought for over three years for control of the family trust. However she did say the judgement was a “step towards restoring family harmony.”

“I am pleased that as a result of this judgment, the trust he set up will now be able to be managed in the best interests of its beneficiaries - my sisters, my brother and myself.

“I am very honoured to have that responsibility and believe that this is a significant step towards restoring family harmony,” Bianca said.

Joyce sent “dangerous” emails to Rinehart daughter

A letter Barnaby Joyce sent to Gina Rinehart’s daughter during the family’s long legal dispute advised her to keep the battle “in house” and out of public view, a spokesman for the Agriculture Minister says.

John Hancock, the estranged son of Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart, has slammed Mr Joyce for urging one of his sisters to abandon legal action during court proceedings, saying the conduct was “outrageous,” and “nothing short of dangerous”.

Mr Hancock said Mr Joyce had written to his younger sister Hope Welker from his government email “pushing for her to drop the case”, effectively endorsing the conduct of Mrs Rinehart.

However Mr Joyce’s spokesman said the letter, sent when he was a Queensland Senator, had encouraged members of the Rinehart family to try to resolve the dispute, to keep it “in house” and out of public view.

“It would be a paradox now to comment publicly in the media about a family dispute which in his letter expressed then Senator Joyce’s advise that there should be no public comment,” the spokesman said.

The very bitter and very public fight over the nation’s biggest family fortune, forged in the red Pilbara dirt, ended in defeat for Mrs Rinehart yesterday.

Mr Hancock said he and his sister Bianca Rinehart, who the court ordered should take control of the $4 billion-plus Hope Margaret Hancock trust, were relieved “to an extent” by yesterday’s verdict but more steps needed to be taken.

He said they had experienced “extraordinary pressure” during the case, including from senior politicians.

PDF: Barnaby Joyce’s letter to Hope Welker

In 2011 Mr Joyce, who has enjoyed a friendship with Mrs Rinehart for some years, emailed Hope Welker, who originally sided with her older siblings in the dispute but later pulled out of the dispute following a $45 million loan from her mother.

“I have never met you; I would like to however. I should mention I have spent time in recent years with your mother and Ginny, but please if you can give me the chance of just considering the following,” he wrote.

“Australia needs strong families and Hope we need, really need, yours to be strong. Hope, I live in the public gaze, a lot of my life I do not enjoy because every move is on television and in the press. But Australia asks different things of different people.”

Mr Joyce went on to discuss his own family disputes, including the disputes between his and his wife’s family.

“I used to live in the New England. My parents are well off, not like yours obviously, but multi-millionaires none the less. I left the family business, was offered an ultimatum that I could not accept to be honest, leave your girl friend or leave.

“When I got married one side of the church was packed, that was my wife’s, the other side fitted onto two pews. The wedding photos are not on display in my house.”

Mr Joyce concluded by warning against the influence of lawyers and the media and reiterating her mother Gina loved her.

“Hope it is not my business but can I offer just an idea. Who really loves you, who misses you, who would give everything and beg for more if your life depended on it because you are Ginny’s sister and Gina’s daughter? Alternatively, who has a motivation and a business based on stirring people up, telling people they can win things, telling people they can get more money and billing them for their grief. Hope believe me, such a practise has been going on a long time – it is their very business.

“You are a family Australia needs. All good families have their problems but before it gets really out of hand, I would try and get it back in house and out of public view,” Mr Joyce concluded.

Australia’s richest people

Mr Hancock told The Australian: “Barnaby Joyce’s involvement in this has been extraordinary pressure on us, and is a dangerous example of a senior politician prepared to jump off a cliff without checking for rocks below. How he could endorse my mother’s conduct by writing from his government email pushing my little sister to drop the case is outrageous.”

Mr Joyce sent the e-mail in 2011 when he was opposition spokesman for regional development, local government and water and not a Cabinet minister.

Rinehart ‘pressured’ children to give up trust

Gina: my kids aren’t up to it

However, Mr Hancock told ABC radio: “It’s been incredible the people that have come out and these senior politicians commenting on things that they either knew nothing about or have been manipulated to write to my younger sister.”

“Barnaby Joyce didn’t have Hope’s email and as an accountant he should know that the only way to replace a trustee is through court action and a judge’s order. You can’t have a replacement trustee through negotiation or behind closed doors as he put to my sister.

“Coming from his government email, I just think it’s extraordinary. This character sits three chairs down from the Prime Minister. I think it’s nothing short of dangerous and I would want to see exactly what communications he had prior to sending this email to Hope.

“Questions need to be raised on why he decided to get involved in this.”

Mr Hancock also read from part of the judgement yesterday.

“In the course of the litigation, Mrs Rinehart has repeatedly, directly or through her lawyers or through other influential connections sought to deter the plaintiffs from prosecuting her by measures, some of which closely approach intimidation,” he said.

“These commenced shortly after the proceedings were commenced and continued at least until the eve of Bianca giving evidence at the second hearing. On 11th of September Senator Barnaby Joyce sent Hope an e-mail calculated to dissuade her from continuing the litigation.”

Mr Hancock said he believed his mother would appeal yesterday’s decision as she had appealed “every single decision along the way”.

Bianca Rinehart will now go through the trust records and take appropriate action, he said, with other court proceedings still under way.

However Mr Hancock said an appeal by his mother was all but certain, given how hard she’d fought every other aspect of the legal battle. “Every single decision along the way she’s appealed all the way to the High Court. So I can’t see this being any different,” he said.

Lawyer Alan Camp, who has worked with the Rinehart family for more than 40 years, and is now a confidante of John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart said he believed the family would ultimately reconcile.

“They are all very robust individuals and once resolved, everything will be resolved,” he told ABC television.

“It’ll take time but John and Bianca are very understanding people. They know what’s got to be done but they also know all the emotions that’s involved and they have considerable care towards their mother.”

Comment is being sought from Mr Joyce.

With AAP