Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest person, is able to keep a family dispute private as a judge barred the publication of any details of a lawsuit filed against Rinehart by her daughter Hope Rinehart Welker.
New South Wales Supreme Court Judge Paul Brereton said yesterday he would extend the publication ban imposed on September 9.
Sandy Dawson, a lawyer representing media outlets including Fairfax Media and Consolidated Media Holding's Channel 9, opposed the sealing of the court file at a two-hour hearing on September 9.
Details of the hearing cannot be reported.
Rinehart became the first woman to top Forbes Asia's list of Australia's richest people this year as surging iron ore prices and exports more than quadrupled her fortune to US$9 billion ($10.9 billion) from a year earlier.
