In a letter to Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, Bernardi asks that the Senate's Standing Committees on Economics contacts all submitters to the inquiry to ensure they are genuine.

"I am concerned that some submitters may not be genuine and may be making submissions to discredit the work of the committee during this inquiry," he says.

Bernardi also hits out at leaks from the committee which have revealed the content of submissions that have not yet been made public.

"I believe that the committee should consider the matter [the leaks] as a contempt," the letter states. "An investigation into the source of the leak should be undertaken and if necessary, the matter."

In response, Senator Dastyari, who chairs the committee, said it would cooperate fully with any investigation, but contacting submitters to ascertain whether submissions are genuine is unnecessary.

"Perhaps some of the submissions are disingenuous," the senator told BuzzFeed News, "but perhaps some of them are real. I'm not sure which is more scary."