On 6 March 2014, the Senate referred the Trade and Foreign Investment (Protecting the Public Interest) Bill 2014 to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation committee for inquiry and report.

The reporting date was 11 April 2014. On 16 June 2014, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 27 August 2014.

The committee has received over 11,000 emails from individuals using an online tool asking people to express their opposition to investor state dispute settlements under trade agreements to the committee. Due to the large number of emails received, it is not possible for the committee to accept them as submissions and publish them on the committee’s website. The committee, however, has agreed to accept the emails as correspondence.