LOL....you do not watch it obviously Alan , but there are many Aussies who do ; ). Statistics do not lie and that is why Australia is now in the "European" show.
Like WGT, business are business. Eurovision reaches a mass amount of viewers every year mostly from Europe but also from almost all over the world. There is lots of money involved in such music festival and all want to be part of it.
The UK, Italy, France, Germany & Spain have already bought their "permanent" ticket for the competition (paying with euros), the rest of the other European countries have to qualify in order to reach the finals if selected by the other 56 countries vote (some voting rules per qualifying per country).
However, each country participating has to pay a fee to enter and also pay for the expenses and visual effects they want to be part of their performance, and other expenses too, etc, etc.
Imagine the very popular European soccer "Champions League"...this is more or less the same, but with music.
Will Australia buy their "permanent" ticket for the competition?, Australia certainly have the bread and the viewers to do just that, but until now all is still unclear.
Weird, joke, craziness, insanity, etc?, money can buy that and even more, ask WGT.....Imao : )))
Eric