Asia and Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, has threatened to halt payment of the ransom insurance for her three estranged children, News.com.au reports.

The threat was because of the alleged refusal by John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart and Hope Rinehart Welker to support her request with the New South Wales Supreme Court for a suppression order on their family feud. The order was denied by the court last week which resulted in the publication of some details of email exchange between Ms Rinehart and her children, which includes the daughters fearing for the safety.

On Friday, her only son issued a statement where he expressed his concern for his family's safety.

"I can support my wife and children in a modest manner from the work I do, but I can't provide the level of funds required to deal with security issues - real or imagined - associated with being the son of a woman worth more than $20 billion," 9 News quoted Mr Hancock.

"But she won't share a penny to help protect her grandchildren from the risks she - the trustee of our family trust - is creating by her own action," he added.

The children reportedly did not agree with their mother's condition for them to support the suppression order which prompted her to threaten to discontinue paying the ransom insurance for her adult children and her young grandchildren.

"We can only presume that your clients' previously stated concerns for the personal safety of their families and themselves have now completely and entirely disappeared," wrote Paul McCann, Ms Rinehart's lawyer, to the lawyer of her three children.

"Under these circumstances, it seems that your clients would place no value in the continuation of 'ransom insurance' that is currently provided to them and/or their young children.... Indeed, you may consider such insurance to be wasteful," Mr McCann added.

The High Court has agreed to stay the lifting of the suppression order requested by Ms Rinehart until March 9, prompting the billionaire to file a fresh application. Her new application was made out of genuine concern for the safety of the family members, estranged ones included, Ms Rinehart's lawyers said.

Family feuds and courtroom dramas are not new to Ms Rinehart who also had falling out with her father, Lang Hancock, but their relationship was fixed eventually. However, Ms Rinehart had another court battle with the second wife of her father, a Filipina, whom she suspected of killing Mr Hancock. The stepmother was cleared by a coroner for lack of evidence.

Besides the family feud, eyes are also focused on Ms Rinehart's acquisition of a stake in Fairfax Media, which observers see as her way of having more influence in media to battle some of the federal government's policies, particularly the mining tax and the carbon tax.

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