By Derek Schlennstedt
At the younger end of the spectrum, 23 year-old Jayden Crozier is Yarra Ranges Shire’s Young Citizen of the Year.
His passion for law, politics and human rights has taken him all the way to the United Nations and with Indigenous Australian heritage on his mother’s side, Jayden has always been aware of the rights of indigenous peoples around the world.
In 2014, he represented Yarra Ranges at the National Indigenous Youth Parliament in Canberra and, later that year, was awarded the EMR NAIDOC Youth Sports Award.
Throughout his studies, he has taken on the responsibility of being Indigenous Office Bearer at the university Student Association and has been on policy committees relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues.
Though, it was in 2017, that the Mail reported on Jayden’s successful application for an internship with the United Nations, and in 2018 he spent six weeks at the Australian Permanent Mission with United Nations for the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
That year, he also received the EMR NAIDOC Youth – Educational Achievement award and speaking to the Mail recalled the time spent at the United Nations.
“To see it all in action was great,” he said.
“You get to see how it all unfolds, and you can see the benefits of diplomacy as countries negotiate around certain issues, particularly the Human Rights Council, which is all about consensus building and finding common ground on human rights issues.
“Even for countries that don’t have the best human rights record – Australia included- it’s a great platform to try and find common ground and cultivate a response to human rights issue or breaches.”
Although he studies full time, Jayden has taken up employment as a paralegal and has begun working in the public affairs team at Bupa.
Jayden paid respect and thanks to the many people in his life whose support has helped in his journey to become a paralegal.
“Receiving young citizen of the year is such an honour, but I couldn’t have done it without the support from my community, my family and friends, my university, and from my workplace, but HICCI have been a real bedrock for me, and provided a lot of support in finding jobs.”
