news

So, who is Lucy Turnbull, the new Prime Minister's very impressive wife?

Some people have all the good titles.

The former Lord Mayor of Sydney can add another title to her deeply intimidating CV: Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia.

For Lucy Turnbull, who’s been married to Malcolm for 35 years, it’s an unofficial job description – and not nearly so grand as First Lady — but she joins Therese Rein as one of the most impressive people to fill the role, which has become increasingly visible.

Lucinda Turnbull, 57, comes from an illustrious line of politicians. Her grandfather was Sir Thomas Hughes, the first Lord Mayor of Sydney. Turnbull made history herself by becoming the first female Lord Mayor of Sydney in 2003.

In addition to her own political career, Lucy Turnbull is also a lawyer and businesswoman. She’s currently the director of investment banking firm Turnbull & Partners and sits on various panels and boards, with philanthropic interests including the NSW Cancer Institute, the Redfern Foundation and the Sydney Festival.

A life-sized portrait of her hangs in Malcolm Turnbull’s office, and our new Prime Minister has indicated that Lucy Turnbull plays an active role in each and every decision he makes.

“It is almost impossible for me to imagine, let alone remember, what it was like not to be together -– so much so that I have a much clearer sense of ‘Lucy and me’ than I do of ‘me’,” Malcolm Turnbull told The Australian Women’s Weekly last year.

Lucy met Malcolm Turnbull when she was 19 and he was 23.

He was a journalist for The Bulletin assigned to write a profile of her father, the QC Thomas Hughes, and she was helping her dad out in his law chambers over the summer holidays.

“What was my impression of Malcolm? Well, Malcolm was very dashing and extremely attractive, you know. Good sort and very energetic. He always had a very strong energy kind of life-force about him. I guess that was a remarkable thing. He wasn’t a passive, sit back, let life… you know, let it flow kind of person. He was always kind of, you know, lean forward,” Lucy Turnbull told Australian Story in 2009.

They were married a couple of years later in 1980 and quickly became a Sydney power couple.

She gave birth to their first child at the age of 24, despite misgivings that she was too young.

“[Malcolm] was very keen to start a family very young and I kept on saying, ‘Well, hang on’. I was 24 when I had Alex and I said, ‘Are you sure we’re not doing this a bit young?’ He said, ‘No, no, no, it’ll be fine’… Alexander and Daisy are testament to the fact that he persuaded me to do that,” she told Australian Story.

Malcolm Turnbull says he fell in love with Lucy as soon as he met her.

“It is almost impossible to be sad in Lucy’s company. She is hardly ever down; she is as bouncy, as optimistic today as she was when I met her. Lucy is one of those few people who light up every room she enters,” he told the AWW.

“And bouncy is the right word. I vividly recall coming back to Australia from the UK, where I was studying, and being met by Lucy at the airport. She was so excited to see me, she was jumping up and down – prouncing (bouncing and prancing at the same time) – and then I started jumping up and down, and then we were both jumping up and down hugging each other until we realised how crazy we looked and fell about laughing.”

Now that Malcolm Turnbull has achieved his long-held goal of becoming Australia’s PM, the Turnbulls will be trading down from their Point Piper mansion, valued in the tens of millions, to the Lodge.

So how does Lucy Turnbull see her role?

“We’ve known each other for a long time and we’ve worked and lived and done things together, so I guess, you know, he’s my most trusted adviser and I guess I’m one of his most trusted advisers — if not his most trusted adviser as a life partner really is — so I guess that’s what my role is.”

Click through our gallery of Lucy Turnbull:

Related Stories

Recommended

Top Comments

JB 9 years ago

Who is Lucy Turnbull's mother? On no article or resource can one find any reference to the woman who was, presumably, her father's, Tom Hughes QC's, first wife, and Lucy's mother. It seems as if this woman has been airbrushed from history, so far as the web is concerned. Anyone know? The author of the article perhaps?


Lee 9 years ago

Lucy Turnbull is not the "first lady". I very much doubt Malcolm is "the first man".