Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate everybody involved in the movie Lion. Lion is a remarkable, moving story about one of my constituents—Saroo Brierley—and his journey. It is based on his novel, A Long Way Home, and it is about his early childhood in India and how he got separated from his parents and family and ends up on the streets of Calcutta, unable to be understood because he speaks a different language, although he does not realise that at the time. He is then adopted by his Tasmanian parents and, as a young boy, makes the long journey from India to Australia. As an adult, he journeys back to India because he continues to have memories of his homeland and the separation from his brother, his mother and his family. It is a truly remarkable story.

The movie won two BAFTAs last week and is up for six Oscar nominations in coming weeks. I encourage everybody in this place who has not seen the movie Lion to go and see it. It is truly remarkable. It tells a remarkable story about a remarkable individual, but it also reminds all of us of our own humanity. It reminds all of us about the poverty in the world. It reminds all of us about trying to protect and look after the children in the world. It reminds all of us about the story of humanity, how the parents of Saroo helped him go back to India to meet his birth mother. It is a really remarkable story.

It moved me when I went to see the movie with my own children and when I talked to them about the movie. One of my son's is studying the novel this year for English. For those members of parliament who have not seen Lion or read the book A Long Way Home, I would encourage them to do so—it is truly remarkable. I want to wish the movie and everybody involved in the movie all the very best. Some of it was also filmed in my home state of Tasmania, and it has received a lot of support from Tasmanians. It has packed movie houses all around the state as Tasmanians go to support this movie. I wholeheartedly encourage everybody here to do the same. It is truly remarkable, and I wish them all the very best in the upcoming Oscars. If the best movie were truly to win, it would be that one.