Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 by invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as a "one-off" special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision. On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part. In 2015, Australia was guaranteed a spot in the final of the contest and was allowed to vote during both semi-finals and the final; however, from the 2016 contest and onwards, Australia would have to qualify to the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was allocated to compete.
Australia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 12, "Zero Gravity" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 18 May. It was later revealed that Australia placed first out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 261 points. In the final, Australia performed in position 25 and placed ninth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 284 points.
Tying in with the goal of Eurovision—to showcase "the importance of bringing countries together to celebrate diversity, music and culture", the 2015 theme of "Building Bridges", and arguing that they could not hold "the world's biggest party" to celebrate the 60th edition of Eurovision without inviting Australia, the EBU announced on 10 February 2015 that the country would compete at that year's edition as a special guest participant.[2] Along with the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the host country of Austria, Australia was given automatic entry into the final to "not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants.[3] On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part, however they would have to qualify for the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was competing. On 2 October 2018, SBS confirmed Australia's participation in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest after securing an invitation for the fifth year in a row.[4] In 2018, Australia was represented by Jessica Mauboy and the song "We Got Love". The country ended in twentieth place in the grand final with 99 points. On 14 October 2018, SBS announced that they would hold a national final for the first time to select the Australian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Eurovision – Australia Decides was the national final in order to select the Australian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition took place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gold Coast on 9 February 2019, hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey. Ten artists and songs competed with the winner being determined by a combination of public and jury voting.[5] The show was broadcast on SBS as well as streamed online at SBS On Demand.[6] The national final was watched by 298,000 viewers in Australia.[7]
Competing entries
On 14 October 2018, SBS announced an open submission for interested songwriters to submit their songs online until 4 November 2018. Songwriters were required to be citizens or permanent residents of Australia and songs were required to be in English or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language. Minor collaborations with foreign songwriters were permitted as long as the majority of the composers/songwriters were Australian citizens or permanent residents.[8] Over 700 songs were submitted following the deadline. Ten songs were selected for the competition from the received submissions and performers of the selected songs were determined by SBS in consultation with the songwriters.[9] The ten competing acts were announced in three sets between 2 December 2018 and 18 January 2019.[10][11][12]
Final
The final took place on 9 February 2019. The combination of public votes (50%) and a five-member jury (50%) selected "Zero Gravity" performed by Kate Miller-Heidke as the winner.[13] The jury consisted of Christer Björkman (producer of Melodifestivalen and of various Eurovision Song Contests), Fifa Riccobono (former CEO of Albert Music), Milly Petriella (Artist Service director of APRA), Josh Martin (SBS Commissioning Editor for Entertainment) and Paul Clarke (Head of the Australian Eurovision Delegation) who each distributed points from 1-8, 10 and 12 during the preview show on 8 February 2019 and had a total of 290 points to award. Viewers were able to vote via SMS and the total votes were divided by 290 to determine the quota that would equal to a single point. The number of votes each song gained was then divided by the quota and rounded up to the nearest integer to determine the points an entry would be awarded.[14] In addition to the performances of the ten competing entries, singer Casey Donovan and 2016 Australian Eurovision entrantDami Im performed as the interval acts.[15]
Prior to the Eurovision Song Contest, Kate Miller-Heidke made several appearances across Australia to promote "Zero Gravity" as the Australian Eurovision entry. On 6 April, Miller-Heidke performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne, to over 4,500 spectators.[16] Miller-Heidke also gave several promotional interviews to Australian media outlets prior to the competition.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Australia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[17]
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Australia was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Georgia and preceding the entry from Iceland.[18]
Semi-final
Australia performed twelfth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Georgia and preceding the entry from Iceland. At the end of the show, they were announced as one of the ten countries to qualify for the grand final, keeping their perfect qualification record intact. After the show, Kate appeared at a press conference with the other nine finalists to draw which half of the final she would participate in. Australia was drawn to compete in the second half. It was later revealed that Australia won the first semi-final, scoring 261 points, 140 points from the televoting and 121 points from the juries.
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[19]
Australia
