Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was moved to tears when telling the story of an Indegenous woman while discussing the preservation native languages.
In an interview with Stan Grant on NITV’s The Point programme aired on Monday, the Australian PM welled up when describing a moment when he came across a book while researching his recent ‘Closing The Gap’ speech.
The book contained a lullaby in the Ngunnawal language, a language Mr Turnbull used in his speech, as recounted by an elderly woman who is understood to be part of the ‘Stolen Generation’.
“The thing that’s so sad is to imagine that mother singing that story to her, you know, at a time when you were losing culture, and the last thing that baby was, was safe, you know,” a clearly upset Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Turnbull discussed a broad range of issues deeply affecting Indegenous Australians, saying improving the lives of Aboriginal people required wholesale action right across government portfolios.
“Indigenous Australians, and all Australians, can count on me to make the decisions that are right,” he said.
Following the interview, in an article for SBS interviewer Stan Grant said the prime minister must now turn his tears of empathy in to action.
It was the first interview Mr Turnbull had given at the recently renovated official Canberra residence of the prime minister, The Lodge.