THEY’VE GIVEN US Nick Cave, AC/DC, Kylie – and now they’re coming for the Eurovision.

After months of discussions, Australia has officially been given permission to enter this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The Aussies will compete in this year’s event in Vienna, with organisers promising that it will only happen “just for once, and for many good reasons”.

And what are the reasons? Apparently it’s because the Eurovision is 60 this year and organisers want to give ‘an extra dimension’ to the celebrations.

Australia will bring the number of countries in the final to an even forty. They’ll also be extra jammy and get to skip the qualifying rounds that so many countries have to go through, jumping straight into the grand final in May.

The Australian act hasn’t been announced yet, but we’ve been assured they will be revealed shortly.

The Australian public will probably be allowed to vote for the first time, but they’re still working out the logistics – it will be early on a Sunday morning when the programme is broadcast, but it may be possible.

“It’s a daring and at the same time incredibly exciting move,” said Jon Ola Sand of the European Broadcasting Union. “It is our way of saying: let’s celebrate this party together”.

Things we can almost guarantee will happen:

• There will be a LOT of stereotypical jokes about Australia by the hosts before and after their performance
• Australia will get a lot of votes from sympathetic countries who always appreciate an underdog.
• “G’day Sydney, can we have your votes please?” Cue awkward 20 second video satellite delay.

In other words: we’re looking forward to it already.

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