Is my boycott of Australia at Eurovision over now that Delta Goodrem is the participant for 2026?

15 March 2026

Two years ago I decided to boycott Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest after years of frustration at the deceit and duplicity to make Australia a permanent participant, and SBS’s laziness and irreverence towards the contest and the Australian Eurovision community in general. Most egregious was that process to make Australia permanent, especially the blatant and ridiculous favouritism involved, and the unfairness to all other broadcast members, whether they be full members that comprise all other countries that participate or associate members that would like to participate.

Delta Goodrem - Eclipse - Eurovision Song Contest 2026 - Australia

After the the special “one off” appearance in the 2015 contest that marked the 60th anniversary of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union has continually lied about Australia’s place in Eurovision to the point that, after a 5-year agreement expired, they silently added Australia to the list of participants for 2024 without even a hint of an announcement or explanation. Noting that Australia is only an associate member of the EBU and is ineligible for ESC events, clearly the EBU’s agenda was to subvert their own rules. To make matters worse, the EBU feverishly enforce these eligibility rules against the likes Kazakhstan, who is another associate member, while full members all must meet higher obligations, notably financial, to maintain their membership and therefor ESC eligibility.

Meanwhile, SBS, Australia’s broadcaster of Eurovision, does the bare minimum in terms of promotion and publicity for Eurovision or the selected artist. Australia Decides, the national final that was a conditional part of that 5-year agreement, simply didn’t occur in its final year of 2023. No explanation. No nothing. When the artist and song, by an obvious internal selection, was eventually confirmed, the announcement of Voyager and Promise came via an overnight dump of their music video on Youtube. The following year, the “video” for Electric Fields’ One Milkali was a laughable lyric video. Last year, SBS pulled some clown from TikTok as the participant.

For two years, Australia, or the name of its entry, didn’t exist in any of my posts. Where a mention was absolutely required, like in official results, they were shown as “Ineligible Associate Member”. Thankfully, with dud entries in 2024 and 2025 that didn’t reach the grand final, this was comfortably managed.

The boycott was initially planned to last until the rules changed so that Australia operated as per all other countries. Furthermore, the end of that boycott would only see the bare minimum of coverage if SBS didn’t change its ways. In the time since, I would have accepted an official announcement about Australia’s participation status, that they are permanent for whatever prescribed reasons, to end the boycott. Lurking behind all that was also a wildcard situation. What if the selected artist was one of my most favoured artists? Would the boycott continue or would I give in to my feelings and cover the artist? In 2026, that time has come.

Delta Goodrem, who will perform Eclipse, is my favourite Australian artist ever, and someone I’ve always hoped to see on the Eurovision stage. She was actually rumoured to be a participant as far back as 2016 with many fans, including myself, pushing hard for her selection. Ultimately, Dami Im was called up, who was also pushed hard by her fans. That proved the right call. Despite further pushes over the years, there was never a hint of Delta appearing at Eurovision. In fact, the profile of the selected artists got weaker and weaker. All that changed for 2026, when the stars finally aligned for Delta. She has a new album due, her schedule is clear, and she was able to answer the call. She’s a proud Australian, loves Eurovision, and will be a tremendous ambassador. Arguably, from a national level, she’s one of the highest profile artists to ever appear at the Eurovision Song Contest. If you think about an artist with a career of over 20 years, seven studio albums, including five number ones, there’s not many. Certainly not many that were still making music and performing at their peak at the time.

Curiously, the selection of Delta Goodrem proved not a surprise. In late January, in an interview on the TV Tonight website, SBS said they thought everyone will be happy about the participant. Given the push for Delta over the years, she was obviously swirling in the minds of many. So, too, was Dami Im! That was until, on her Instagram, she quashed any thoughts that it was her, and endorsed Delta in the process. Of course, there was another 5am Youtube dump of Delta’s video and a basic announcement on social media accounts, so nothing changed there. At least it was a high quality video, and the song itself is clearly designed to make a big impact on the Eurovision stage.

In a remarkable coincidence, something that could be only described as too epic to be true, not only is my favourite Australian artist participating, so is my favourite artist, period. That being Vanilla Ninja from Estonia. With that presents an even greater challenge in objectivity when covering the entries, meaning, trying to strip out any respective fanaticism and adoration to judge them all equally. Probably an impossible task! Vanilla Ninja will perform Too Epic To Be True, which, as a song title, perfectly sums up the situation of both them and Delta Goodrem participating at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.

While the boycott of Australia at Eurovision is over, it must be said that it’s not completely over. There will be no special or specific mention of Australia beyond this post. They will not be returned to the annual Eurovision Battle post. The coverage will be more about Delta Goodrem than Australia, and her name will be the common reference with the use of “Australia” primarily restricted to headings and results. In future years, any commentary will be fleeting. Principles of fairness and honesty must be upheld even if the EBU’s silence about Australia now clearly a permanent participant at Eurovision is a statement in itself.