Penrith NRL legend Mark Geyer reveals 'postcode racism' haunts Sydney's western suburbs residents Whalan ... Mark Geyer outside the house in which he grew up / Picture: Tim Hunter Source: News Limited WHEN I left Whalan High School at Mt Druitt in year 10, I applied for at least a dozen apprenticeships. I hoped to become a carpenter, but only received one response. That employer said they didn't have any positions but "suggested" my Mt Druitt postcode, 2770, did me no favours. So I decided to resubmit the applications using my Nan's address and Auburn postcode of 2144. Sure enough, I received eight responses and ended up with a job in a printing plant at Meadowbank. It was my first experience of what I call postcode racism. Unfortunately, the job didn't work out too well either. I was paid $68 a week, but had to spend most of it getting to and from work. Mark Geyer outside his old primary school / Picture: Tim Hunter Source: News Limited By the time I caught a train to Strathfield, another one to Rhodes and a bus to Meadowbank, and then home again, I only had $26 left in my pocket for the week. Almost 30 years later, not a lot has changed for the two million people who now call western Sydney home. Those in high places still neglect us and we're still forced to spend too many hours getting to and from work. I still reside here today with my wife and our five kids. I'm proud of the west and just love the community spirit out here, people pulling together and trying to make the place better. But it frustrates me that those of us considered "westies" often seem to draw the short straw. Sure this is where we choose to live but I'm sick to death of being looked upon as a second-class citizen purely because of my postcode. I was born in Auburn Hospital in 1967 to teenage parents. Mum was 16 and Dad was 19. I was the reason they got married. The fibro housing commission house we rented was my home until I moved to Penrith some 20 years later. Mark Geyer as a kid outside the family's Mt Druitt home ... Jodie, Melissa, Kevin (dad), Matt and Mark Geyer. Mum and Dad worked their backsides off. Dad was a truck driver and always seemed to work at least one day on the weekend. Mum worked in a factory during the day and would often do night shifts at a takeaway food joint. We had no money but our house was full of love. I remember for my 11th birthday, Mum painted paddle pop sticks so they looked like boats and I used to race them down the stormwater drains. We used to chip off bits of fibro from the house and use it as chalk to mark up handball courts on the road. Mark Geyer on his bike with sister Jodie. From grade six, it was my job to get my sisters, Jodie and Melissa, and my brother Matt ready for school as Mum and Dad had to head off early for work. This sort of family routine is still pretty common for many people in the west. We're not the type to complain, but it would be nice to think that someone in government has a grip on the issues. Do they really understand what it's like to wake up at 4am and start worrying whether there's going to be an accident on the motorway which will make us horribly late for work? Do they understand the anger when people see the same traffic bottleneck year after year and sit on motorways that were built with absolutely zero foresight of the rapid growth? Premier Barry O'Farrell, who for the record I consider a decent bloke, appointed himself Minister for Western Sydney in 2011. Jodie, Melissa and Mark Geyer at the family home in Mt Druitt. But many of his senior Liberal cabinet colleagues are either from the north shore, the eastern suburbs or northern beaches. How are they to know our plight? We have fewer doctors and hospital beds, more traffic, lower wages and a high rate of high school drop-outs. I'd love to know, but I would assume that not having one western Sydney MP sitting in cabinet would suggest the west is not exactly a priority. When the Premier had a chance to give this area a voice after Sport Minister Graham Annesley's resignation, instead of going with the popular choice, Penrith MP Stuart Ayres, he opted for Gabrielle Upton, member for Vaucluse! She probably knows as much about western Sydney as I know about Vaucluse. It's time the city shifted west. It's time to start building projects - Wet 'n' Wild is a start - that cater for our booming area. We need good local jobs. It's time those in high places started showing the western suburbs a little respect, rather than taking us for granted or simply ignoring us. We are a multicultural powerhouse that is the genuine heartbeat of our state. We live here because we love it. Yes there are tough areas like Mt Druitt, but there's so much potential - like the 9000 who'll graduate from the University of Western Sydney this year. All we need is a champion who understands the challenges and is willing to stand up and fight for us every day. They'll see an army of two million stand up behind them and back them all the way. Mark Geyer is a host on Sydney's Triple M The Grill breakfast radio team on FM104.9