![\"Lucy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5d02173b13a2dd1a162b069922f04e9250a95d889ca39ce86badf788a21b039b.png\")
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February 5, 2026 \u2014 12:50pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n If disability pensioner Kathy Pope was in any doubt of the Herculean job ahead of her in suing mining billionaire Gina Rinehart over the state of their shared fence, she isn\u2019t any longer.<\/p>\n Pope fronted up to the NSW Supreme Court \u2013 virtually \u2013 on Thursday for a brief mention of her legal suit against Australia\u2019s richest person and the 12-kilometre boundary fence<\/a> that separates their farms on the state\u2019s Northern Tablelands.<\/p>\n It is no equal fight. On the one side is Pope, a vulnerable litigant with no legal representation and situated on her 157-hectare farm in Kingstown, west of Armidale. On the other is Rinehart with an estimated worth of $38 billion, half a dozen lawyers in the courtroom and ownership of some 42,000 hectares of farmland in the district.<\/p>\n The lack of resources at Pope\u2019s disposal was not lost on Justice David Hammerschlag, who warned her she risks having the case dismissed before it even starts if she does not file an appropriate statement of claim within 21 days.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a whole lot of material that you\u2019ve sent and nothing in the material I\u2019ve been sent vaguely represents what I would regard as a statement of claim,\u201d said Hammerschlag.<\/p>\n If the half-dozen lawyers representing Rinehart in the courtroom were hoping to claim any kind of victory from it all, they too would have been disappointed.<\/p>\n A bid by Rinehart\u2019s barrister Charles Colquhuon, SC, to have his client and Rinehart\u2019s companies Hancock Prospecting and Hancock Agriculture removed from the proceedings given they do not own the property was promptly rejected.<\/p>\n Likewise, a request by barrister Jocelyn Jaffray on behalf of Rinehart\u2019s Pastoral Properties Pty Ltd to have the matter moved to the equity division\u2019s Real Property List was also rejected, prompting Hammerschlag to quip that such a move might jeopardise his friendship with its presiding judge Ian Pike.<\/p>\n At the heart of the dispute is not only the run-down state of the fence between Pope and Rinehart\u2019s respective farms, but the movement of animals between them.<\/p>\n Pope claims she has lost about 800 animals \u2013 cattle, sheep, wild deer, goats and 14 Maremma guardian dogs \u2013 over the past seven years due to inadequate fencing.<\/p>\n On Rinehart\u2019s side, there are concerns not only about the movement of animals, but also feral goats and pigs digging under the fence, and the occasional need to treat Pope\u2019s animals for disease.<\/p>\n Rinehart\u2019s office has declined to comment on the stoush, but has disputed Pope\u2019s claims against her.<\/p>\n Complicating matters is a long-standing arrangement between Pope and her other neighbour, Mary Kakaroubas, whereby Pope agists her animals on her 470-hectare farm in exchange for the continued upkeep of fences and trails. Kakaroubas has joined Pope in the proceedings.<\/p>\n Pope was also told she would need to appear in court in person if the matter made it to hearing, and was advised to get legal representation.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cEven with the best will in the world, and with the best case in the world, which I\u2019m not sure you have yet, the brief you\u2019ve provided is just not there,\u201d Hammerschlag said.<\/p>\n Pope said she had contacted more than 45 legal firms in the hope of enlisting legal representation and exhausted all government resources.<\/p>\n \u201cDoesn\u2019t that tell you something?\u201d Hammerschlag said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve all said to me I have a case. The reason for not taking the case has more to do with the disparity between the parties,\u201d Pope said.<\/p>\n The matter returns to court on March 5.<\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Kathy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1598cf0fb9be65fb4c7bc2927cc098b0f2b8cd2b.jpeg\")
Kathy Pope is\u00a0suing Gina Rinehart over the state of a 12-kilometre fence that separates their respective farms in the state\u2019s Northern Tablelands.Benham Fisher<\/p>\n![\"Gina](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c8b4156de2b584c4cd6b69dab2e46b30ee40d75e.jpeg\")
Gina Rinehart is one of the largest cattle farmers in the Northern Tablelands, with 42,000 hectares of farmland.<\/p>\n![\"Kathy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/678967594c4aa89bb99e6b692b78f23c380c8303c2aa8efd15b9dbca7389fdec.jpeg\")
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Lucy Macken<\/a> is an investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 5, 2026 \u2014 12:50pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-460319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}