Growing up, Jazmin Grant says she saw inequity all around her and today is Close the Gap Day 2024, where inequity is being addressed.
It’s what inspired the 18-year-old to study law and international relations at Bond University. Jazmin said she was looking forward to graduating next year and putting her double degree to work.
Students reaching further education pathways and achieving their full learning potential are two of the 17 socio-economic targets set out in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
“As a young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman I’ve witnessed the various injustices within our legal system and as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to pursue a legal career,” Jazmin said.
“Issues such as racial profiling, the lack of culturally appropriate services and systemic oppression from government systems inspired me to study law to raise awareness that these barriers exist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“My desire for these injustices to be eliminated to achieve equality within our legal system is very strong.”
However, Jazmin does not underestimate the challenges ahead.
“Opportunities for young women in law here and around the world have always been an issue,” she said.
“We are seeing disproportionate gender gaps in everything from judicial appointments to pay, and other career pathways that are a lot harder to navigate than they should be.
“The prevailing mindset that law is a male-dominated area can be very confronting for a lot of women, but it’s time that that sort of thinking was stopped, and I want to be a part of that.”
The themes of this year’s Closing the Gap report are Progressing Voice, Treaty, Truth, Leadership and Governance, and Building our Economies.
All Australian governments signed up to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap along with the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations. The Coalition of Peaks is a representative body of about 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled peak organisations and members.
The Federal Government adopted the goals of the Close the Gap Campaign in 2008, and in 2009 committed to making an annual progress report to Parliament with the Closing the Gap strategy.
In 2020, the Closing the Gap framework and strategy was significantly overhauled, with a “greater focus on partnership between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.
The 2020 National Agreement on Closing the Gap is a strategy that aims to improve the life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Jazmin chose to leave her home in Yeppoon in Central Queensland to study at Bond and discovered that in law and international relations, “women are amazing advocates”.
Her move to the Gold Coast earlier this year means she had to leave her close-knit family of mum Melynda, dad Garth and younger brother Ethan, 17, for the first time.
But she says she will always cherish First Nations cultural teachings from the region.
“Growing up I came to love the local Darumbal customs and culture which I was so immersed in through dance and storytelling, things that I hold dear,” Jazmin said.
“My family has been extremely supportive of my studies and my move south and the similarities of the Gold Coast and Yeppoon coastal lifestyles, the beaches and the friendships I’ve made here, have made it all just that little bit easier.”
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