Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Australia | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Member station | SBS |
| National selection events | Internal selection |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 3 (3 finals) |
| First appearance | 2015 |
| Best result | 2nd: 2016 |
| Worst result | 5th: 2015 |
| External links | |
| SBS page | |
| Australia's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 For the most recent participation seeAustralia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 |
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Australia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria, in which they finished 5th with a total of 196 points at the grand final of the 2015 contest. Although Australia's participation in that contest was set to be a one-off event, the plan being only to perform again the following year had they won the contest, it was confirmed in November 2015 by SVT that Australia would participate in the 2016 contest. Australia is the first country from the Oceania region (and the second country outside Eurasia overall after Morocco in 1980) to participate in the contest.
Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) first broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983 and has continued to do so every year since. The contest has attracted a viewing audience in Australia, primarily because of the country's political and cultural ties with the European Union, particularly with the United Kingdom. Early broadcasts of the contest in Australia either featured no commentary or used the United Kingdom's commentary as transmitted by the BBC. In 2001, actress and comedian Mary Coustas provided commentary for the contest performing as her comedic character Effie. Between 2002 and 2003, SBS presenter Des Mangan provided commentary for the Australian audience. Since 2009, Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang have been assigned as commentators for the competition by SBS. In addition to broadcasting the contest, SBS has also broadcast the 50th and 60th anniversary programmes.
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