Australia Shakes Up Eurovision Entry With Public To Now Decide Contestant & Song

Australia is set to shake things up ahead of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, with the announcement that the singer and song will be decided by the public for the very first time. 

As Fairfax reports, SBS will next year host a pre-Eurovision event - Eurovision: Australia Decides - to be held on the Gold Coast from 8-9 February, which will then be broadcast on 9 February and voting will be open to the television audience during the telecast. 

The competition will reportedly be open to all Australian songwriters, with the best songs to be shortlisted and paired with high-profile names.

The winning contestant will move on to represent Australia at Eurovision 2019 in Israel next May.

"It's game on, you bet," Blink TV's Paul Clarke (Australia's head of delegation for Eurovision and producer of the SBS telecast), said.

"Australians love to compete, with sport, with music, and I think we've always been a little bit on the backfoot when we've arrived at Eurovision.

"This process allows us to connect with all the songwriters in Australia and to say we're looking for innovative, dramatic pop music of whatever genre and to push them to come up with collaborations that are audacious and provocative.

"That's the kind of music that wins Eurovision."

Submissions to enter Eurovision: Australia Decides close on 4 November; click here for more details.

Guy Sebastian was the first to represent Australia at the global singing competition in 2015, followed by Dami Im in 2016, Isaiah Firebrace in 2017 and Jessica Mauboy this year.