Australia will compete on the Eurovision stage for the fifth time in a row, after confirmation of their participation in Tel Aviv 2019 was revealed by the outgoing SBS CEO to TV Tonight.
This announcement will further establish Australia as a serious, competing nation within the Eurovision community. For the Australian delegation, the next goal will be to obtain a permanent position in the competition. Currently, they are only able to compete via invitation.
There are also rumours of a possible first-time national final, with TV Tonight reporting that plans are being made to develop a new format to select Australia’s artist.
Outgoing SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid stated that he “would love to get Australians more involved in selecting our artist to represent us. We don’t have the money to do The Voice or Australia’s Got Talent, and it wouldn’t work with an emerging artist.”
As of yet, no artist and/or song has been announced by the Australian delegation. It is significant to note, however, that SBS and Blink TV are not limited to solely selecting artists from the Sony Music record label. Although all four previous Australian artists have been signed with Sony, this has not been a factor in selection. Ebeid highlighted to TV Tonight that they look for the “best artist possible, and not the record label”.
Who do you think Australia will select for Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv? And will we see a national final format used for the first time? Let us know in the comments below…