Despite talk of bringing about family harmony, the Rinehart children's bitter feud with their billionaire mother Gina Rinehart continues to become more complicated.
In the latest development, Bianca Rinehart's nomination to become trustee of a $5 billion family trust was rejected in court on Thursday.
On Wednesday, eldest sibling John Hancock announced through his lawyer that he would withdraw as a nominee to be trustee "for the sake of family harmony" and instead offered his sister Bianca as a candidate.
But another sister, Ginia Rinehart, who has always sided with her mother, fought the proposal, saying she would prefer an independent trustee.
Justice Paul Le Gay Brereton rejected Bianca's nomination in the Supreme Court, saying accepting it would be an "injustice" to Ginia.
Justice Brereton said Ginia Rinehart didn't have a "proper opportunity to contest and oppose it".
Ginia Rinehart's lawyer, Richard McHugh, had argued that Bianca was an unsuitable candidate because of issues she has had with her siblings.
"Bianca is one of four siblings who in the last several years had a number of disputes," Mr McHugh told the court, adding that she was also not suitable to be trustee because she was a beneficiary.
But the lawyer for Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock, Christopher Withers, said she was appropriate and qualified for the role.
Mr Withers said there were no present disputes between Bianca and her brother and added that she had never spoken to the media about her family problems.
Gina Rinehart announced she wanted to be discharged as trustee days before a trial between her and her two children was due to start.
The trial, which opened on Wednesday, focuses on John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart's claim that their mother acted "deceitfully" and with "gross dishonesty" in her dealings with the family trust, which was established by her father in 1988 and nominated her children as beneficiaries.
The hearing continues on Friday.
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