The New Year has arrived and Eurovision season is in full swing! Five countries have now chosen their songs, with many more to be selected in the near future. The European Broadcasting Union has announced that 39 countries have confirmed participation in Vienna, but there is growing speculation within the Eurovision fan community of a potential Australian debut. As an Australian myself, I am living for the idea of Australia FINALLY competing in Eurovision, but lesbihonest: it’s never gonna happen. Why not let us get involved competitively in the contest? Let’s review the main arguments.
1. Australia isn’t part of Europe
Many Australians believe that if countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Israel can compete, Australians can too. But it’s just not the case! The ‘Euro’ in EUROvision is representative of the European Broadcasting Union, not Europe as a continent, which allows several Middle Eastern and Northern African broadcasters the right to compete in the contest.
The reality is that Australia is geographically further away from Europe than India — and New Delhi isn’t fielding a singer in Vienna.
However, Australia is a country rich in European culture. The first fleet from Britain settled in Australia in 1788, and since then we have had a heavy influx of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Greece and the former Yugoslavia. FACT: Melbourne (my home city) has the largest Greek speaking population outside of Greece, and you can bet some of our Greek neighbours love them some Kalomira, and that ain’t no mystery for you. But that’s not enough to sing at ESC.
Australians can, however, perform as guests. Jessica Mauboy was the interval act during the second semi-final at Eurovision 2014:
2. Australia doesn’t pay into the EBU
In Australia, we have two television networks that are associate members of the EBU, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)—who televise Eurovision in Australia every year—and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Both of these networks regularly televise shows and news programs from around the world, but because of Australia’s geographic location, it’s impossible for Australia to gain full EBU membership.
Even if we could, I doubt the Australian Government would want to pay the fees to become a full member of the EBU. They would rather cut funding from the SBS and ABC.
Australians can, however, sing for other countries. Gina G. represented the UK in 1996:
http://youtu.be/k-c90MB50do
3. Australia isn’t practical
Australia is also an incredibly difficult location to hold the contest if we won. It would be a spectacular show (expensive too, I’m sure), but the costs involved for smaller participating countries would be extremely high. And we would’ve have to hold the contest at 5am local time so the European audience could watch the show in prime time as usual. Inconvenient!
Do I think an Australian entry would be cool? Yes. Do I think Kylie Minogue would look great on the Eurovision stage? Yes. But it’s really not a feasible idea. Perhaps we can just lend a hand to the UK? After all, they could probably use a little help…
No one knows, the last country is China
@João: Who would have thought they could make it happen?
This is going to be a very intriguing month of May.
I think it will imo
I do not agree, Jethro. If you have been following WiwiBloggs for years, you would know this topic comes up again & again. It is a pointless discussion. Australia should not participate in Eurovision because the country is well outside th reach of the EBU. The timezones make it impractical too. Here we go again. Same old story. Boring topic.
Eurovision is perfect the way it is (I hope that is not too negative for you).
Why ask why? #1 is all you need to know. If an Aussie wants to compete at the ESC, hook up on a project with a European musician, producer or songwriter. That’s how Canadian Celine Dion won for Switzerland (1988), and American Katrina Leskanich won for the U.K. (1997).
Australia will never participate in Eurovision, so best not get your hopes up, you’ll have a long wait. The only reason why Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, among others, participate is because, parts of their countries pass through Europe, they are also part of the EU’s “European Neighborhoods” states which also include North African countries and Israel, which can also explain why North Africa and the Middle East could participate. If Australia were to participate, then countries like USA, Canada, Brazil, China and the rest of the world would also be allowed to take part, which kind of defeats the purpose… Read more »
Well first of all, never say never. It is highly unlikely countries like Australia will participate officially in the near future… but do you remember the (cancelled) interval act of last year presenting an idea of how some people imagine the contest in the future? With the contest opening to the whole world, allowing countries like South Africa, Brazil, Australia, etc. to compete. Yes, a crazy idea but who knows? I bet people in the 50s and 60s never imagined more than 40 countries would ever participate in the contest, and that it would become so big, the introduction of… Read more »
jesus! are there people out there believing that Australia will take part in Eurovision? LMAO.
I think it would be cute to include Australian acts in one of the semifinals.
The problem isn’t the language rule. If that was true all countries which sang in English wouldn’t do well. The last time there was no language rule between 73-76 Britain did very well. In 1976 Britain won with 164 points which nearly 20 more than 2nd place France and nearly 70 points more than 3rd. The problem is no one tried back in the day, also the juries meant that all the more successful music was middle of the road in order to satisfy the different age groups. In come the late nineties, and noughties. Televote comes in and eastern… Read more »
@ESCaddict– you’re a really negative person. There is obviously interest or people wouldn’t be commenting and liking. Don’t insult Australian EuroFans Mr Baddy!
“Australians can, however, sing for other countries.” Good point! I think Jesicca Mauboy could sing for the UK.
Kylie should do it.
I know that she is from New Zealand – but Lorde.
I also would like to see her representing UK, Ireland or Croatia.
The UK only need help from one person…..Kanye West. Have you seen the recent talent he discovered? This Paul McCartney dude???? Like totally wow. And yes, I am saying this sarcastically. The UKs decline came when the language barrier was dropped. Nothing political, not voting for your neighbour, although this does help. United Kingdom has a plethora of talent out there. We just need to keep away from the pointless “talent shows” of Simon Cowell because, lets face it, if these kids already had talent, they wouldn’t need to go on live TV, have some sob story revealed and have… Read more »
Why do Wiwibloggs keep bringing up this subject? We know Australia can’t participate in Eurovision. We have read the reasons before. No one is interested. Can we now have a blog relevant to the competition?
You think the UK don’t have decent enough artists to send to Eurovision by saying they need help? That isn’t the problem, the music scene in the UK is The One, but they just don’t send decent enough songs. Molly is the exception, not a great result, but she is the UKs Kati Wolff, the results will start coming if songs like that keep getting sent.