Senator tries to torch SBS over Israel Eurovision vote and gets facts completely wrong

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson’s attempt to pressure SBS over Australia’s Eurovision voting for Israel during Senate Estimates this week quickly fell apart after the questioning exposed a fundamental misunderstanding of how Eurovision voting actually works.

The exchange centred on Israel receiving no Australian points in the Eurovision 2026 Grand Final despite finishing second overall in the contest.

The Senator repeatedly pressed SBS executives over both Australia’s seven-person professional jury panel and the Australian public vote, suggesting the outcome raised concerns given Israel’s strong overall result.

“Zero votes were provided to Israel, and Australia's public vote also awarded zero votes to Israel,” the Senator said.

“And so Australia ranked Israel 25th out of 25 countries in the final. And just for context, Israel in fact came second in the competition.”

Except, Australia did not rank Israel 25th.

A cursory five minutes on Wikipedia would have given the Senator or her staff enough information to stop their embarrassing attempt at a gotcha moment.

Where Australia actually ranked Israel

Australia’s professional jury ranked Israel 22nd. Additionally, with only 25 nations in the Grand Final, Australia can only rank down to 24th since a nation can't vote for itself.

The individual jurors placed Israel 10th, 14th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 21st, and 23rd. So, not even an individual juror ranked them last.

While the Australian public televote ranked the country 20th.

Neither the jury nor the public placed Israel in their Top 10, meaning the country received no Australian points.

That is not remotely the same thing as finishing last or "25th out of 25 countries."

Under Eurovision rules, countries only award points to their 10 favourite songs. Any entry outside that Top 10 receives zero points automatically, regardless of whether it finishes 11th or 25th.

All up, 12 of the 35 nations voting in Eurovision 2026 gave Israel 0 points in the jury.

Australia's vote was not unusual.

Senator wrongly suggests SBS influence

The questioning also repeatedly blurred the distinction between SBS’s role in selecting Australia’s seven-person jury panel and the separate public voting process, with the Senator at one point asking whether SBS coordinated the Australian televote itself.

SBS executive Kathryn Fink clarified that while SBS selects the Australian jury, the public vote is administered internationally through Eurovision’s official EBU-run system rather than by the broadcaster.

“The panel is run by SBS,” Fink said.

“Obviously, Australia votes through the same mechanism as other countries, the online voting and the phone numbers.”

When the Senator then asked directly whether SBS had “anything to do with the public vote”, Fink responded:

“No, Senator.”

Senator focusing on the wrong vote?

The Liberal Party, of which Senator Henderson is a member, suffered a heavy defeat at the 2025 federal election and continues to languish in historically poor polling.

Perhaps before questioning why Australians did not vote the “right” way at Eurovision, the Senator should focus on understanding why voters are not supporting her own side politically.

And perhaps, more importantly, get the facts right before attempting to manufacture a controversy that simply does not exist.

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