Malcolm Turnbull grew emotional during an NITV interview with Stan Grant.

In his first sit-down TV interview with National Indigenous Television, the Prime Minister was brought to tears while telling the story of an elderly indigenous woman who recalls her mother singing her a lullaby in the dying Ngunnawal language.

“She was a very old lady and she remembers her mother singing this to her. And the thing that’s so sad is to imagine that mother singing that story to her [child] at a time when you’re losing culture,” Turnbull told SBS’ The Point.

“The last thing that baby was was safe. That’s why it made me sad.”

Turnbull heard of the woman while researching a passage in the Ngunnawal language for his Closing the Gap address earlier this month, where he pledged $20 million in funding for language preservation programs.

Asked about encouraging hope rather than despair in grassroots communities where there is often a feeling of “hopelessness”, Turnbull said: “There is no silver bullet. I think often one of the reasons there has been so much disappointment in terms of the outcome of policy here is because everyone has been searching for the one big sweeping answer.

“The answers are as they are for everybody — education, work, economic opportunities, enable people to get on with their own lives.”

In the wide-ranging interview Turnbull also said he believes a referendum is possible in 2017.

“It is complex and I believe a referendum next year is certainly feasible but we have to get that agreement and we will need overwhelming support for it to be carried.

“The problem with changing the Australian Constitution is that the Australian electorate is very conservative with the Constitution and I think that’s partly because of compulsory voting. People who aren’t familiar with the question or haven’t read much about it are much more likely to vote no.”

He also spoke about the number of indigenous people in prison, telling Grant he wants to break the cycle of black imprisonment, which represents a quarter of Australia’s jail population.

“That is totally unacceptable. There is a crisis to be addressed and the critical thing is to break the cycle of incarceration. And so that is why I am working with our indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and other colleagues to identify more programs that will break that cycle.

“It is a failure across the board and I think it’s in large part because Aboriginal people are not enjoying the economic opportunities or taking advantage of the economic opportunities that they need.”

Asked if he would continue his predecessor Tony Abbott’s pledge to spend one week a year in a remote community, Turnbull said he would continue to consult with communities but said they are not reflective of the broader “diverse experiences” of indigenous Australians.

“Remote communities represent some of the biggest challenges in indigenous affairs and I am completely committed to working with my colleagues and more importantly, indigenous people.

“That is where often the social problems are the greatest, and that is why they are a very keen focus of government policy,” he said. “But we’ve also got to recognise too that more Aboriginal people live in cities and towns and we cannot solely see policy through the prism of remote communities.”

Turnbull’s sit-down with journalist Stan Grant was his first media interview from The Lodge. It’s the second time in a week the Prime Minister has shed tears while discussing an emotional subject. At the Teal Ribbon Breakfast at Parliament House on Wednesday he teared up while hearing a woman’s account of her battle with ovarian cancer.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reacts as he listens to a speech during the Teal Ribbon Day breakfast at Parliament House in Canberra.Source:AAP