The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) has threatened to sue FIFA if the 2022 World Cup is moved from Qatar.
Australia spent almost £26m in their bid to stage football's biggest competition and was one of four countries to lose out to Qatar.
"Australia invested heavily in the World Cup process," BBC Sport quotes FFA chairman Frank Lowy as saying.
"Since December 2010, Australia has been careful not to let its misgivings about the process be interpreted as sour grapes.
"But now, with increasing speculation about a change that will impact on us as one of the bidding nations, and because our competition will be affected, we have made our position public."
Japan, South Korea and the United States were the other countries who lodged a bid to stage the 2022 showpiece event.
