Australian entrepreneur, aviator and philanthropist Dick Smith is calling for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be freed.

Assange is currently locked up in the UK, with the US trying to extradite him there and charge him.

“Generally speaking I think Julian Assange did the right thing… there’s not a lot of sympathy from typical Aussies but there’s a principal here that we shouldn’t allow Americans to charge Australians when you’re not even in America and you’re not breaking any of their laws, because you’re not there,” he told Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings.

Smith, a former Australian of the Year, said even deputy PM Barnaby Joyce had called for Assange to be brought back to Australia.

“When he leaked these secrets, that had been leaked to him by Chelsea Manning, the amazing things was, that the media ran these secrets… [yet] the American government is not taking on the media or newspapers in Australia at all,” he said.

Tap PLAY below to hear more of his chat with Liam.