Human rights commissioner’s view of Indigenous voice ‘likely to mislead voters’, five predecessors say

Five former Australian human rights commissioners disagree with the current holder of the post, Lorraine Finlay (pictured), on the Indigenous voice to parliament. Photograph: Murdoch University

Human rights commissioner Lorraine Finlay has made a “serious error” that is “likely to mislead voters” by claiming that the Indigenous voice to parliament “undermines the foundational human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination” in Australia, according to five former human rights commissioners.

In an opinion piece published in the Australian on Thursday, Finlay wrote that as a former constitutional law academic, she did not consider the voice to be a “modest proposal”.