Dick Smith Interview

When Dick Smith was a boy he had a speech im­pediment that made it difficult for him to properly say his own name.

“I’m Dick Miff.”

One day, while reading a news­paper, he stumbled across a word that he’d never seen before.

“Mum, what’s a philanfrophhhsst?”

“That’s a person who has done very well and who puts money back into society.”

“If I ever do very well I’m going to become one.”

In 1968, at 24, Smith began selling electronic components. He started with just $610 and the aim of building a strong enough business for three employees. Fourteen years later, he sold Dick Smith Electronics to Woolworths for $25 million. Then Smith moved into publishing, headed the Civil Aviation Authority and started his own food label – all the while seeking adventure all over the world. But whether Smith was flying thousands of metres above the North Pole in his helicopter or soaring in a hot-air balloon across the continent, he never lost sight of helping others.

Dick Smith is a phil­anthropist – and he still has trouble pronouncing the word. He has donated millions of dollars to a vast array of causes, and he has also given his time and name, often outspokenly. His actions and values have earned the respect of a nation. In this year’s Reader’s Digest Most Trusted People survey, Smith was ranked 12th of 100 public figures. The previous year he ranked ninth. This year’s standing comes after Smith vehemently supported the right to give David Hicks a fair trial. Hicks allegedly underwent military training with groups including al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan during 2000 to 2001. At a US Military Commission hearing in March last year he pleaded guilty to a charge of providing material support for terrorism. Critics still question the evidence. The controversial plea bargain allowed Hicks to return home after he’d spent more than five years locked up in Guantánamo Bay. After a further nine months in Adelaide’s Yatala Prison he is now a free man.

The episode divided Australia, but Smith never wavered, and he still wishes for justice for Hicks – whom Australians ranked 97th in the Reader’s Digest trust survey. Smith recently sat down with Reader’s Digest and freely shared his feelings about why he couldn’t turn his back on Hicks, and why he also risked damaging his own reputation.

RD: What is trust?

Dick Smith: Trust is the result of ­people learning that they can believe in somebody, and is developed over a long period of time. I’ve worked very hard on making sure that the name Dick Smith can be trusted because my parents set an example of honesty that was ingrained in me. I’m very careful to make sure when I say something it can be trusted and it’s the truth. I’m surprised to find that I’m always on these most-respected lists because I do controversial things. I stood up for getting a fair trial for David Hicks and I withstood a huge barrage of the most extraordinary e-mails attacking me. It motivated me more to do what I consider to be the right thing. People said to me, “Dick, what you are doing is an admirable thing but it will cause you considerable damage.”