Qantas chair John Mullen suggested this week companies "campaigning so actively" for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in 2023 had alienated members of the public.

"I think that many people from all walks of life saw corporate Australia's position as lecturing and telling people what to do from a position of assumed moral superiority," he said.

"I don't actually think that it was so much about whether one was for or against the Voice. People don't like to be told by others what they should think or what they should do going forward."

Under the airline's previous top brass the company supported the Yes vote in the Voice referendum.

Noongar law academic, human rights expert and vocal supporter of a Voice to Parliament, Dr Hannah McGlade, told National Indigenous Times "the Voice was a modest ask in response to Aboriginal people's wrongful dispossession and the continued consequences today that we're failing to overcome".

"The campaign was a positive one that respected Aboriginal people," she said.

"The Qantas chair's comments show a lack of respect to Aboriginal people.

"We know racism is widespread and played a significant role in the referendum defeat."

Dr McGlade said Mr Mullen "lost credibility" with his claim.

Mr Mullen, who took over as Qantas chair from Richard Goyder in September, made the comments in the keynote address to the Australian Institute of Company Directors governance conference in Sydney on Tuesday.