Why is Australia in Eurovision?

Australia has been officially competing in Eurovision for the past 10 years, but why is a country thousands of miles away from Europe able to compete?

Fans of the wildly popular song competition will be questioning their entry as the contest kicks off in Basel, Switzerland this week.

The first semi-final took place on Tuesday, 13th May and said goodbye to Slovenia, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Croatia and Cyprus.

Tonight (Thursday, 15th May), Australian singer Go-Jo will get the chance to qualify with his single Milkshake Man.

He'll be facing off against the likes of Ireland, Denmark, Greece and Austria, but why is he able to compete when Australia isn't in Europe?

Why Australia is able to compete in Eurovision

Australian entries have been competing in Eurovision for the past 10 years following decades of enthusiasm for the contest Down Under.

The competition was first broadcast on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), which is an associated member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in 1983 and has been doing so each year ever since.

SBS's broadcast has been a huge success from the beginning and Australia have had their own commentators for the show since 2001. From 2010-2014, SBS held their own televote for Australian viewers, though this did not count towards the overall result.

The following year, 2015, marked the first time Australia actually competed, although their first appearance at the song contest actually happened two years earlier.

During the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden, SBS submitted a pre-recorded video titled Greetings from Australia (also called Why Australia Loves Eurovision) to commemorate 30 years of broadcasting the show there. The following year, the DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) granted permission for Australian singer Jessica Mauboy to perform as an interval act during the second semi-final in Copenhagen.

The 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria marked the first time Australia was able to officially perform. The honour was granted to American Idol winner Guy Sebastian, who came an impressive fifth place with his song Tonight Again.

Both the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster ORF decided to let Australia not only take part, but to go straight to the final, due to it being the 60th Anniversary of Eurovision.

They skipped the semi-finals to reduce the chances of countries actually in Europe being eliminated, but the EBU and SBS confirmed that, were Australia to win, they would not host the contest the next year, as per tradition.

Australia has been competing in Australia ever since, only failing to qualify in 2021 and 2024.

Their best performance in the contest came just a year after their first entry, when singer Dami Im came second overall with her song Sound of Silence at the 2016 final in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Eurovision Grand Final airs Saturday, 17th May at 8pm on BBC One.