Australia: Plans to Hold National Selection in Future Years

The Australian Head of Delegation has stated that the country has long-term plans to introduce a national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

In an interview with ESC Daily, Paul Clarke the Australian Head of Delegation stated that their aim is to introduce a national selection process to decide their entrant. However that a national selection is dependent on whether Australia is allowed to participate in future editions of the contest.

Mr Clarke stated that Melodifestivalen, the Swedish pre-selection, has had a big influence on how Australia would hold a national selection. He hopes that Christer Bjorkman the Producer of Melodifestivalen would come to Australia to help establish a selection format of the calibre of Sweden’s eventually leading to a Eurovision winner.

Isaiah Firebrace will be representing Australia this year in Kyiv, with the song “Don’t Come Easy”. He has made a name for himself in Australia after winning the eighth season of Australia’s edition of the X Factor, despite only being 17 at the time. Following his win he released the eponymous album ‘Isaiah’, the primary single ‘It’s Gotta be You’ managed to chart in Denmark, The Netherlands, and Sweden as well as his native Australia. Isaiah Firebrace will sing “Don’t Come Easy”, he took to the stage for the first time yesterday for his first rehearsal.

Source: ESC Daily

[tw-accordion class=””] [tw-accordion-section title=”Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest”] Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 as part of celebrations marking 60 years of the Eurovision Song Contest. Australia has broadcast the contest since 1983 making it the country which watched the contest for the longest period of time before taking part in the contest. In 2016 Australia was represented by Dami Im with the song “Sound of Silence”. She brought Australia 2nd place in the final scoring 511 points, she was just 23 points away from victory.
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