Australias richest individual has reportedly demanded that an unflattering portrait of her by an Indigenous artist be removed from the countrys national gallery.

Gina Rinehart, a mining heiress and multibillionaire, personally pressed the director and chair of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra to strip the painting from its walls after it first went on display in March, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The gallery declined the request and has reportedly since received more than a dozen complaints from Rineharts business associates and financial beneficiaries following her campaign efforts, according to the Herald.