One of Australia's most prominent businessmen has come under fire after comparing heterosexual and same-sex marriage to "a black man and a white man" on national television.

Roger Corbett, the former Fairfax Media chairman and former managing director of Woolworths, made an appearance on the ABC's 7.30 to advocate for a "no" vote in the government's same-sex marriage survey.

The interview started off well, with Corbett pointing out that he has many gay friends and he "respects them enormously".

"I hope they even like me after tonight," he said. "But I think marriage, through generations of our society, has been between a man and a woman. Of course, people have got different sexual inclinations in their life or they're gay, and they have a perfect right to a union that is exactly equal ... but let's call marriage marriage."