Malcolm Turnbull chokes-up after meeting Sydney baby battling cancer

An emotional prime minister has recounted the moment he met an 11-month-old baby in a children's cancer ward.

Malcolm Turnbull choked-up while recounting the moment he met baby Nate during his tour of the ward in the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick.

"He pressed his little hand up against the glass so that we were touching between the glass and there were tubes coming out of his nose," the prime minister said today.

"In the arms of his mother he smiled."

Mr Turnbull went on to say that while Nate is only 11-months-old and could not really understand what is going on, he likes to think all the kids in the ward felt cared for.

"I think even at that young age he knew, as all these kids do, that despite the rottenness and unfairness of being sick, they couldn’t be in better hands than here at the Sydney Children’s Hospital," Mr Turnbull said.

The prime minister was at the hospital to announce the delivery of an election commitment of $20 million towards the Zero Childhood Cancer project.