The foreign affairs department has played down the concerns of the nation's most senior judge over the independence of arbitrators who will oversee investor-state disputes under the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
High Court Chief Justice Robert French has criticised arbitrators and their role-swapping in dispute cases.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official told a Senate committee on Monday that multinational corporate lawyers will still be able to serve as arbitrators in TPP disputes.
However, under the trade pact there was more control over the appointment process - each party was allowed to appoint one arbitrator and then a jointly-agreed third.
The DFAT official maintained that arbitrators had to comply with rules on independence, impartiality and address any conflict-of-interest issues.
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Leading US Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren has described dispute panels as "rigged pseudo-courts".
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