06 May 2024

SBS, Australia’s broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest, released an interesting podcast in three parts over the past week that detailed Australia’s history in Eurovision and tried to answer that most pertinent question of all: Why is Australia in Eurovision? It was an informative and very well produced series, and heavily featured producer Paul Clarke (director of Blink TV), author Jess Carniel (wrote the book Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest), Dami Im (2016 participant) and Danny Estrin of Voyager (2023 participant). Dami Im, especially, added great insight about the year when Australia nearly won.

Most fascinating of all in the series was the history of heavy petitioning to try join Eurovision, particularly by Clarke, with the idea well received by Michael Ebeid, the managing director of SBS at the time. The path was set with SBS sending a commentary team in 2009 before culminating with the special “one off” invitation for the 60th anniversary edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. That first year of a sending commentary team piqued the interest of the European Broadcasting Union, and everything snowballed from that. Until then, from 1983 to 2008, except for a couple of disastrous attempts with local commentators, SBS simply took the BBC feed for its delayed broadcasts over the weekend.

It’s ironic timing for the podcast because this year I decided to boycott Australia at Eurovision due to the continued unethical means to keep Australia in Eurovision, with the outrageous situation in 2024 becoming the tipping point. As noted in that post, from 2016 the EBU continued to invite Australia as a reward for performing well in the early years and as part of expanding the Eurovision brand, notably in Asia with Eurovision Asia. Of course, Asia never got going and the expansion was a mirage. Eight years later, Eurovision has still not expanded beyond inviting Australia. The EBU won’t even invite Kazakhstan, a fellow associate member of the EBU like Australia, even though part of that country is in Europe. The most stunning revelation (7 minutes into episode 3) was Clarke eliciting a promise that SBS and Blink TV would help create a bridge for Eurovision into Asia as long as the EBU reciprocated with a bridge for Australia into Eurovision and Europe, and that process is still continuing. Sorry, that’s wrong. One country should not be above the rules that apply for everyone else and make their own secret deals.

There were quite a few holes in the series, notably late in episode 2 when it was noted the low points from the public for 2017 and 2018 that suggested Europe did not want Australia. That was written off as poor performances (correct for 2017) without acknowledging the same pattern has continued since (2 points in 2022, 21 points in 2023), and every year since inception the public points are lower than the jury, and it’s always a drastic difference except for 2019. Nothing was mentioned about the eligibility rules that apply for everyone else, or why Australia Decides got silently cancelled in 2023, seemingly never to return. There was nothing about the doubt and mystery that revolved around participation in 2024, and what was the eventual rationale for inclusion anyway. Eurovision is not mainstream in Australia. It simply found a niche place on Australia’s multi-cultural public broadcaster, and eventually an enthusiastic, niche audience. No mention of the crash in ratings over the years since Australia participated either.

So, why is Australia in Eurovision? That it needs to be asked is part of the problem. It’s never asked about other countries, and that’s because they are European, or near enough to Europe to be within the European Broadcasting Area of the EBU, which is the actual boundary for eligibility. They are all automatically eligible. Furthermore, there’s never been a clearly stated rationale by the EBU over the years to include Australia in Eurovision, only deception, lies and trickery. Now we learn there’s sordid deals involved as well, and let’s not forget the annual junket it’s become for certain people to enjoy.

The simple answer is that Australia begged to be in Eurovision, and the EBU likes Australia involved. It’s an extra number and an audience for them, and perhaps there’s still some faint hope of expansion, especially if Australia can win Eurovision one day.

Why I am boycotting Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest

Why is Australia in Eurovision

Episode 1 How Australia fell in love with Eurovision and earned its place in the competition

Episode 2 How Australia’s early success at Eurovision kept us coming back

Episode 3 How Australia secured a continued future in Eurovision