Will Australia compete at the forthcoming 2024 Eurovision Song Contest? Will the Aussies get a permanent green card to compete at Eurovision in the future? The country’s five year Eurovision participation agreement with the EBU concluded this year. ESCToday got in touch with the Australian national broadcaster, SBS, in order to shed more light on Australia’s upcoming Eurovision participation and the latest developments.

In the wake of the speculation and frenzy amid the Eurovision fan fraternity regarding Australia’s potential Eurovision participation in Malmo and the conclusion of the country’s 5 year participation agreement with the EBU, ESCToday reached out to SBS in order to throw more light on the matter.

SBS gave ESCToday the following statement:

Eurovision is a cherished part of the SBS family. Australia’s future participation in the song contest is currently in discussion. We understand Eurovision fans are eager for an update and appreciate their patience as we work through these next steps. We’ll confirm details as soon as we are able.

Australia has brought a breath of fresh air to the competition with their 8 Eurovision participations, the country has faithfully competed in the competition since its debut.

The deadline for broadcasters to apply for participation concluded on 15 September 2023 whilst grace period for applicant countries to withdraw their application without facing a financial penalty concludes on 11 October 2023.

Hence we are very much within the time frame for countries and broadcasters to still confirm their participation throughout September and October. The official list of the Eurovision 2024 competing countries is expected to be unveiled by the EBU by late October.

The Australian Eurovision Dream

The ultimate Aussie Eurovision dream saw the day of light back in 2015 when our neighbors down under were invited to partake in Europe’s favourite television show in Vienna. 2019 saw Australia holding a full fledged national final in order to determine its Eurovision hopeful, thus celebrating its fifth consecutive Eurovision participation. The Aussies continued with their national final in 2020 and 2022.

Until now SBS had to wait for an invite from the EBU and  host broadcaster in order to participate in our beloved song contest, on a year to year basis. This was no longer be necessary until 2023 as SBS Australia and the EBU  sealed a five year deal enabling the country to compete in the song contest for  five years. This deal concluded in 2023 and we are yet awaiting to see how the EBU and Australia will proceed from here, if another deal will be sealed, if a year by year invite is extended,  or if Australia will be granted a permanent place in the competition.

The Eurovision Song Contest’s Reference Group (the governing body of the competition on behalf of the competing broadcasters) approved the decision to grant Australia and SBS the right to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest for the next five years, thus securing participation in the competition until 2023.

Australia was invited to participate at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna as a one off occasion, but our neighbours down under embraced the contest with such enthusiasm they were invited back again in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021,  2022 and 2023.

The Aussies have won the hearts of Eurovision fans near and far, achieving 5 Top 10 placings in their short eight year Eurovision history.

Australia in Eurovision

Australia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 and has partaken in the competition 8 times.

The Aussies achieved their best result in the contest in 2016 when Dami Im nearly walked away with the Grand Prix with her entry Sound of silence, placing 2nd in Stockholm.

In 2023 Voyager defended the Aussie colors at the Eurovision Song Contest in Livepool with their entry ‘Promise’ achieving a 9th place in the Grand Final.

Source: ESCToday
Photo credit: EBU/SBS