Dick Smith's plan to settle the Australia Day debate once and for all – and his surprise message to the Woolworths boss

Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith has renewed his call to change the name and date of Australia Day, 37 years after he first sparked the debate.

The legendary former electronics magnate was named Australian of the Year in 1987 and used his acceptance speech to call for January 26 to be renamed First Fleet Day.

Nearly four decades later, 79-year-old Smith still wants the name Australia Day to be changed and moved to a new date, but he admits this is now much more politically sensitive.

He also backed Woolworths after the supermarket giant's shock decision not to buy shares Australia Day merchandise and said it was a simple business decision.

Mr Smith said he received no response when he made his first fleet call in 1986.

“If you say something like that these days it's on the front page of every newspaper,” he told Daily Mail Australia. 'But I didn't get any bad publicity at the time.

“I think it's become a lot more political with the 'woke' community, but I've always been in favor of renaming Australia Day to something like First Fleet Day.

'Nowadays it has become a kind of party politics. It certainly wasn't then.

'Most people just thought, “There's Dick Smith, Australian of the Year – that's quite a good idea.”

Nearly four decades later, 80-year-old Dick Smith still wants the name changed and Australia Day moved to a new date, but admits it is now much more politically sensitive.

But he rejects any move to rename the holiday “Invasion Day,” as some indigenous protest groups have proposed.

“Invasion Day is incredibly emotional and would never come up in a referendum,” he added.

“While you might just call it First Fleet Day, I don't even think you need a referendum; we could just call it First Fleet Day.

“It's less inflammatory and historically accurate. I think it's a very good way to defuse the whole thing. It's what happened: the First Fleet arrived.

“They raised the flag on January 26, 1788. And at the time they thought it was Terra Nullius. So they thought there were no people here.

'The great conceit of the European settlers was that they did not regard the Aborigines as human beings.

“Now we've realized this was a big mistake, and Australia actually started tens of thousands of years ago.”

He added: “I think we can have this First Fleet Day and also change the date of Australia Day to something else that is more inclusive.

“But I don't know what that date would be.”

The proud Australian entrepreneur launched his own range of Australian-made foods, including a version of Vegemite, in 1999 to combat foreign-owned rivals such as Kraft.

Dick Smith rejects the proposal to rename the holiday “Invasion Day,” as some indigenous protest groups have proposed.

The former boss of the retail chain was named Australian of the Year in 1987 and used his acceptance speech to call for Australia Day to be renamed First Fleet Day (photo)

But his cheeky Australia Day TV commercial promoting the series was banned in 2013 for its cheeky, innuendo-laden jokes and naughty double entendres.

On Thursday, Mr Smith backed Woolworths – which bought Dick Smith's stores in 1982 – over the supermarket's decision to stop selling Australia Day merchandise.

“I just believe Woolworths has made a sensible business decision,” he added. “I saw their CEO Brad Banducci talking about it on the ABC and thought he was really good.

“They barely sold any merchandise on Australia Day – it's so small in a multi-million dollar store… they sold for a few thousand dollars.

“It just wasn't economical to do it. Most of it was imported from China and they are very proud of Australia.

“I'm a patriot – and in no way will I criticize an Australian company that keeps its profits here.”