Dick Smith urged to run against Bronwyn Bishop

Dick Smith, founder of the eponymous electronics reseller, is considering standing in the next federal election as an independent against former speaker Bronywn Bishop.

Farifax Media has reported that the aviation industry has been urging Smith to run for the seat of Mackellar on Sydney’s northern beaches.

"I have been asked to stand and I am thinking about it. I would only do it as an independent," he told Fairfax Media. "The first person I would ring if I do decide to stand is Bronwyn, I still consider her a friend."

The politician and the entrepreneur were reportedly friends from childhood, having lived on the same street and attended the same primary school.

Smith told Fairfax that he wanted to fight the "staggering increase" in red tape in non-airline aviation under the current government and that private polling by the aviation lobby indicated he had a good chance of winning.

"They told me they spent money on polling and 'you would romp it in'," said Smith. "I'm concerned that the aviation industry is being completely destroyed under the Coalition."

Bishop herself is a fan of aviation, having forced to stand down from the speaker’s chair last year after admitting to spending more than $5,000 of public money on a helicopter for a return trip from Melbourne to Geelong, to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser.

Dick Smith started the business named after himself in 1968 as a car radio installation store in Sydney. The venture had become a national electronics retail chain by the time he sold off his interests to Woolworths in 1982. The business was in the headlines earlier this month for falling into receivership while owing $220 million to unsecured creditors.