Wow. This lengthy article that appeared in the weekend magazine of the Fairfax papers paints a fantastically unflattering portrait of Gina Rinehart. One can't help but imagine that this does not please her, especially as owner of a fair slab of the company.
Gina does seem to be having a run of court action losses lately. You would have to strongly suspect that she is about to lose her biggest case at the hands of her son, unless he suddenly decides to accept a compromise settlement before it goes to trial next month. In fact, the article resolves one thing I had long wondered: would Gina's argument (that extending the vesting date of the trust was in her children's interest because that way they would avoid a huge capital gains tax liability) hold up? No, it seems not. Apparently, within 12 months, her son had a ruling from the ATO that confirmed it would not attract CGT. Once that was know, how did Gina really think she win the case?
I haven't read all that much about Gina Rinehart's complicated life, and so I have also previously missed this bit of family bitterness:
Lang, noting the changes he saw taking place in his daughter after her second marriage, famously remarked in a letter to her: "At least allow me to remember you as the neat, trim, capable and attractive young lady of the 'Wake Up Australia' tour [when she was married to Greg Milton], rather than the slothful, vindictive and devious baby elephant that you have become. I am glad your mother cannot see you now."Nasty, but somewhat amusing in a multi-generational soap opera sort of way. (I never watched Dallas, but I wonder if the real life Rinehart saga indicates that the show may have been far more realistic than people imagined.)
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