Millionaire entrepreneur and explorer Dick Smith has said that he is considering running for Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah due to his anger with stalled aviation safety changes that he has personally been championing.



“I’m not sure, I’m quite angry that I haven’t been able to finish the aviation reforms,” he told ABC radio on Monday morning.



The newly awarded companion of the Order of Australia says he could run in the electorate of Warringah to pursue aviation reforms during the next federal election, expected in late 2016.



“There’s a chance I might ... have a go in Tony Abbott’s seat, mainly to communicate that if you’re a government and you say you are going to do things, you have to do them,” Smith said.

Smith says he is frustrated with outdated civil aviation regulations that mean aircraft flying below 8,500ft do not receive directions from air traffic control, and rules that prohibit firefighters at regional airports offering basic ground information to pilots such as which aircraft are circling and on the runway.

His possible candidacy follows an announcement in March that he had registered the name the Dick Smith party.

Smith, who was named in the Queen’s birthday honours on Monday, also called for an end to the “pathetic political strutting” in Canberra, urging MPs to pass laws to legalise same-sex marriage.

Smith has been awarded a companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the community, humanitarian and social welfare programs, medical research, visual arts and aviation.

The aviator, conservationist and philanthropist lambasted all sides of politics for bickering over who or which party should have “ownership” of gay-marriage legislation and said Tony Abbott should show some leadership on the issue.



The 1986 Australian of the Year said same-sex marriage laws were inevitable and the parliament should just “get down and do it”.



“It’s a basic human rights issue,” Smith said. “I just turn off with the pathetic political strutting.”