Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest

1983–2014

Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) first broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983 and has continued to do so every year since. The contest has attracted a strong viewing audience in Australia, primarily because a significant proportion of the population have ancestry in Europe (in particular in the United Kingdom). Early broadcasts of the Contest in Australia either featured no commentary or used the United Kingdom's commentary as transmitted by the BBC. In 2001, actress and comedian Mary Coustas provided commentary for the Contest performing as her comedic character Effie.^[2] In 2002 and 2003, SBS presenter Des Mangan provided commentary for the Australian audience. From 2009, Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang were assigned as commentators for the competition by SBS.^[3][4] 2017 saw SBS replace the commentators with comedian Joel Creasey and TV and radio personality Myf Warhurst. In addition to broadcasting the contest, SBS has also broadcast the 50th and 60th anniversary programmes.

From 2010 to 2014, SBS allowed Australian viewers to participate in their own televote for the Grand Finals.^[5] However, these votes were not counted at the actual contest and did not affect the overall result. The SBS commentary team and Australian delegation were awarded a commentary booth of their own at the 2012 contest in Baku. They have been allocated a commentary booth every year since.

In the event that Australia should win the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU had confirmed that in accordance with the rules, Australia would not host the event in the southern hemisphere, and instead would co-host the contest in Europe.^[6] Further to the EBU's statement it was confirmed that Germany and their broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) would be the first choice, and United Kingdom's broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) being the back-up hosts should Germany decline.^[6]

Incidental participation

Although not actively participating at the Eurovision Song Contest prior to the 2013 semifinal interval presentation, Australia has appeared in the contest incidentally in a number of ways:

• Peter Doyle and Marty Kristian, both Australians, represented the United Kingdom as part of the New Seekers, who performed "Beg, Steal or Borrow" at the 1972 contest in Edinburgh. The song, co-written by Australian Tony Cole, finished second with 114 points.^[7]
• English-born Australian singer-songwriter Olivia Newton-John represented the United Kingdom in 1974 (prior to Australian broadcast of the contest) in Brighton with the song "Long Live Love", finishing in 4th place with 14 points.^[7]
• John Farrar, who was born in Melbourne, performed as part of the Shadows for the United Kingdom at the 1975 contest.^[7]
• Martin Lee, singer in Brotherhood of Man, which won the 1976 contest, spent several years of his childhood in Australia.^[7]
• Austria paid tribute to Australia in 1977 in London with their entry "Boom Boom Boomerang" performed by Schmetterlinge. The song was considered controversial at the time due to being the first song to openly mock the contest itself.
• Johnny Logan, winner of the contest in 1980 and 1987 for Ireland (and writer of the winning song for Ireland at the 1992 contest), was born in Frankston, Victoria in 1954, but moved with his family back to Ireland in 1957 aged 3.^[7]
• In 1996 in Oslo, Norway, Australian singer Gina G represented the United Kingdom with her performance of "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit".^[7]
• Jane Comerford, who was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, performed in the 2006 contest for Germany as a part of Texas Lightning with the song "No No Never", which took 14th place and 36 points.^[8]
• Australians Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb co-wrote the song "This Is Our Night" which was performed by Sakis Rouvas for Greece at the 2009 contest.^[7]
• Katrina Noorbergen, an Australian living in Berlin, co-wrote the song "A Million Voices" which was performed by Polina Gagarina for Russia at the 2015 contest. She also performed as one of Gagarina's backing singers in the contest.^[9]
• Tonino Speciale, who grew up in Western Sydney, co-wrote the song "Black Smoke" which was performed by Ann Sophie for Germany at the 2015 contest.^[9]
• Mary-Jean O'Doherty, an American-born and half-Australian opera singer, performed as part of the group Genealogy for Armenia at the 2015 contest.^[10]
• Anja Nissen, who is from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales but is the child of Danish parents, represented Denmark at the 2017 contest in Kiev, finishing in 20th place with 77 points. The song, "Where I Am", was co-written by Australian songwriters Angel Tupai and Michael D'Arcy.^[11][12]

2015 debut

SBS made the country's debut at the 2015 Contest with the song "Tonight Again" a song written and performed by Guy Sebastian. Although Australia is outside the European Broadcasting Area, the European Broadcasting Union and Austrian host broadcaster ORF decided to permit an Australian entry to commemorate the 60th Contest. The special circumstances surrounding Australia's entry and "to not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants led the organisers to allow Australia to compete directly in the grand final without pre-qualification.^[17] The 2015 Australian jury consisted of Amanda Pelman (Chair), Richard Wilkins, Danielle Spencer and Jake Stone.^[18]

2016

Although Australia's participation in 2015 was announced as a one-off event, it was confirmed on 17 November 2015 that Australia would participate in the 2016 contest. Unlike in 2015, Australia did not receive automatic qualification.^[19] On 7 October 2015, it was announced that Australia would make its debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 after SBS was invited to perform in the contest.^[20] The 2016 Australian jury consisted of Monica Trapaga (Chair), Shannon Noll, Myf Warhurst, James Mathison and Craig Porteils.^[21] The Australian candidate for the contest was Dami Im.

2017

Australia continued its participation at the 2017 contest following their success the previous year.^[22] On 7 March 2017 at the Paris Cat Jazz Club in the city of Melbourne, Australia, SBS announced former X Factor Australia winner Isaiah Firebrace as Australia's entry into the 62nd instalment of the contest. With the song "Don't Come Easy", Isaiah participated in the first semi-final on 9 May, then the finals on 13 May in which Australia placed 9th.^[23][24] The 2017 Australian jury consisted of Lucy Durack, Natasha Cupitt, Steven Capaldo, Jackie Loeb and Peter Hayward.^[25]

2018

Australia competed in the 2018 contest, selecting Jessica Mauboy as the artist to represent the country.^[26][27] The 2018 Australian jury comprised Richard Wilkins (Chair), Zan Rowe, Jordan Raskopoulos, L-FRESH the Lion and Millie Millgate.^[28] Although this continued Australia's track record of perfect attendance in the final (a record it now only shares with Ukraine), it was the first instance of them not finishing in the top ten, ending in twentieth place with 99 points (only nine of which came from the televote, the first time Australia finished last in the televote).

2019

It was announced that for the first time, 2019 will provide Australians the opportunity to choose their Eurovision representative. The Australia Decides national final will take place on 9 February 2019, with a 50/50 say between an Australian jury and a televote to determine who will represent Australia at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Composer Award