"I was going to Adelaide so I rang David and said, 'Can I come talk to you because you're looking for a job and I'm happy to help with that but I'd want to get some answers to some questions'," Mr Smith told ABC radio in Sydney. "I believe he is basically a decent Australian like his father, that we know well, and I don't believe he's ever been a supporter of terrorism.

"I asked him why he was in Afghanistan and it was quite different to what we've heard about ... (it was) all about trying to help independence movements. "One of my views has changed completely and that is ... he shouldn't earn any money from this. "But I've changed my view completely now because he's said he's never supported terrorism and most journalists I talk to and all lawyers say that the particular plea bargain is just terrible because he would have agreed to anything to get out of there (Guantanamo)."

Mr Hicks is reportedly fielding offers from about 30 media organisations worldwide to tell the story of his capture in Afghanistan and his more than five years in Guantanamo Bay. A media gag order on Mr Hicks, imposed by the US court, expires at the end of next month.

Mr Smith would not give details about talks the pair had regarding Mr Hicks' time in Afghanistan or at Guantanamo Bay, but said he didn't have a problem with the 32-year-old making money from selling his story. "He's not even allowed to earn $5 an hour because a trumped up, backdated, retrospective court case in Guantanamo Bay where he would have agreed to anything, says he's a terrorism supporter. He says he isn't," Mr Smith said. "I think we've got to be very careful of saying he's a convicted terrorism supporter when the circumstances on the plea bargain were that he had no other option.

"I think he's very concerned about talking to the media but he knows he will have to one day, but he's concerned because he's been treated in such an unfair way and people have made up their minds about him ... he thinks there's no chance of him ever being fairly heard." Mr Smith rejected a suggestion that Mr Hicks had been "pulling the wool over" his eyes during the meeting.

"I'm quite sure he was completely open," he said. "Some of it he admitted ... was a terrible mistake he made. "It wasn't as if he was perfect. He made some serious errors in his life but he said, `I've never been a supporter of terrorism, I would never support it,' and I believe that."

AAP