It followed criticsm of their conduct in a 42-page summary published by FIFA of the 18-month inquiry into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 editions of football's flagship tournament awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively. 

The Football Federation of Australia (FFA)-managed bid, which spent AUD$42 million (£22 million/$34 million/€28 million) of public money and only secured one vote out of a possible 22 from the FIFA Executive Committee in 2010, has been tarnished by allegations of attempts to woo former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and Oceania Executive Committee member Reynald Temarii by providing money for development projects.

The summary of FIFA's investigation into alleged corruption, conducted by former United States attorney Michael Garcia, also found there was "a prima facie case that two [unnamed] consultants violated the bidding and ethics rules".

Australia secured only one vote in their bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup despite a multi-milion dollar campaign ©Getty Images

Greens Senator Richard di Natale has now tabled the motion for holding a full Senate investigation, with the vote due to be held on the first sitting day of Parliament in February next year.

"There's been a deafening silence in response to the FIFA investigation and there are some very serious questions that the Australian community deserve to have answered," he told ABC's 7.30 show.

Di Natale also said it is "unthinkable" that the allocated AUD$7 million (£3 million/$6 million/€5 million) to be spent on the bid book and associated expenses blew out to AUD$11 million (£5 million/$9 million/€7 million).

The FFA has insisted that the money was spent ethically, explaining that all expenses were "audited and signed off by external auditors and accepted by Government", but this is not enough for Di Natale.

Richard di Natale has tabled the motion for holding a full Senate investigation into the Australia 2022 World Cup bid ©Getty Images




"It's unthinkable that costs would blow out by a factor of 50 per cent on an activity where I think there's some general understanding about the costs that would be involved upfront," he told 7.30.

"I think there are real questions to be asked about the increasing costs with that aspect of the bid.

"There are big questions around the use of development money, potentially to secure votes.

"There are big questions about some of the people that were involved in our bid.

"So I think that it's absolutely imperative on the Australian Government to make sure that it's spending its money wisely and that the money used for the World Cup bid wasn't used for purposes other than what it was intended for."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
December 2014: Garcia's appeal against World Cup bid investigation summary dismissed by FIFA