LUCY Turnbull’s Greater Sydney Commission has pledged to join The Daily Telegraph’s Project Sydney work experience drive to help forge new pathways to work for young people.

The campaign to galvanise young people against the changing employment landscape includes securing 1000 work experience placements in 30 days.

And we are providing mentorships from business leaders and senior industry figures for the best and brightest young people in Western Sydney, where youth unemployment is as high as 13% in some areas, well above the national average.

media_camera Zoya Sha and Nazli Hocaogli are happy to call Western Sydney home. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Western Sydney youngsters Nazli Hocaoglu and Zoya Shah know the challenges of growing up in the western Sydney region.

Despite huge developments and investment in the area in recent years the pair report feeling a bias against them because of where they live.

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Yet they — and almost 900 Youth Action survey respondents — say they are proud to be from Western Sydney and loved the region for its welcoming and accepting population, friendly community. They were also eager to champion its cultural diversity and uniqueness compared with the rest of the nation.

The survey of people aged 12 to 25 was released yesterday as census data showed the Western Sydney region includes some of the fastest-growing local government areas in Australia, with Camden alone adding 22,000 people since 2011.

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Law student Ms Hocaoglu, 22, from Fairfield said she had faced prejudice in the workplace and had even been advised not to include her address when applying for professional positions.

“I’ve done, and since I’ve removed (the address) I have got a lot more opportunities to come in for an interview,” Ms Hocaoglu­ said.

media_camera Ms Hocaoglu is from Fairfield and said she occasionally gets comments about her choice to live in the West. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Social science and policy student Ms Shah, 18, from Merrylands, said: “I’m often hesitant when I meet people to say I live in Western Sydney because ... they often have wrong assumptions. ”

But she said she “loved” her community.

Report author Natasha Lay said the survey showed “that negative stereotypes about Western Sydney are really outdated”.

Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils president and Blacktown mayor Stephen Bali said it was “sad” that the region’s achievements were being ignored in favour of “yesteryear’s stereotypical one-dimensional character”.

The Greater Sydney Commission will take a work experience candidate to learn about how the planning body engages with the community.

media_camera Lucy Turnbull’s Greater Sydney Commission has pledged to join The Daily Telegraph’s Project Sydney work experience drive.

Responding to the Youth Action survey yesterday Chair Lucy Turnbull said Western Sydney would be the “epicentre of opportunity over the next years and decades”.

“There is no better time to be young and living in Western Sydney,” Ms Turnbull said. “I’m excited ... young people of Western Sydney are positive about their future, because their optimism will be rewarded.”