Case dismissed: Fence dispute between a disability pensioner and Gina Rinehart moves behind doors

A fence dispute between disability pensioner Kathy Pope and Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has been dismissed from the NSW Supreme Court as negotiations over their shared 12-kilometre boundary move behind closed doors.

That hasn’t stopped Pope claiming it as a victory against her Northern Tablelands neighbour.

“I totally count this as a victory because it looks promising that I’m finally going to get my fence fixed,” Pope said.

“But my view on Gina Rinehart has changed forever. I used to think she really cared about Australians, and rural Australians in particular. I no longer think that.”

After years of failed attempts to complete repairs to the fence and claims from both sides of cattle straying over the shared boundary, Pope said she is finally seeing progress.

It’s a sharp turnaround from just a few months ago when Pope, a vulnerable litigant with no legal representation, launched proceedings against Rinehart personally, as well as Rinehart’s related entities Hancock Pastoral and Hancock Agriculture.

As recently as last month, Pope was warned by Justice David Hammerschlag that she risked having the case dismissed before it even started if she didn’t file an appropriate statement of claim before the scheduled start of the hearing on Thursday.

But following this masthead’s coverage of the case, Melbourne-based lawyer Michael Bates, principal of Leonard and Welch Lawyers, came forward to offer Pope his services pro bono.

Pope credits Bates’ help as a game-changer in her bid to have the fence repaired.

“I went to 45 legal firms and none of them would represent me,” she said. “And I don’t understand the whole legal system.

“Whatever [Bates] is doing, is getting results. They’ve returned some of my cattle, I have a lawyer to deal with them, and for the first time in years, I haven’t had to try and cope with the stress of it all on my own.”

Bates said if the matter is not resolved within a month, Pastoral Properties has been served with a notice that it will be pursued through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Earlier this week, Rinehart and her Hancock companies were removed as parties in the proceedings, leaving negotiations between Pope and Rinehart’s holding company, Pastoral Properties (SV) Pty Ltd.

Pastoral Properties (SV) is the owner of Rinehart’s Sundown Valley cattle farm.

Central to the dispute has been Pope’s push for fencing repairs to her 157-hectare property, Allawah, and a neighbouring 472-hectare property owned by her friend Mary Kakaroubas.

Pope has long agisited her stock on the Kakaroubas property in exchange for maintenance of fences and tracks.

According to Bates, the Dividing Fences Act not only applies to landowners of the fence, but by definition also to leaseholders of five years or more.

“Ultimately, this is just a straight-up fence dispute,” said Bates. “This has been a significant stress on my client. We’re not asking for the world. She just wants her fence fixed.”

Meanwhile, added Bates: “I suspect Gina is getting legal bills that she really doesn’t need to.”

Pope and Rinehart have been neighbours in Kingstown, west of Armidale, since 2018 when Rinehart’s interests purchased Sundown Valley for what title records indicate was close to $100 million. Rinehart’s farm holdings locally have since expanded to a total 42,000 hectares.

Pope purchased her 157-hectare farm in 2016 for $220,000.

Given the need for fence repairs, Pope claimed she offered to pay for materials if Rinehart would cover the labour and contribute to the use of any machinery and materials they had on site.

To that end, Pope took out a $100,000 loan from the NSW Rural Assistance Authority and purchased the materials with $20,000 from her own savings.

There was also a $25,000 contribution from Hancock Prospecting before work commenced in 2022.

But within a few weeks and with only 800 metres of exclusion fencing complete, work stopped.

It hasn’t resumed, Pope said.