Gillard woos jaded western Sydney voters

Julia Gillard announces a major federal government push to fight gang-related drugs and gun crime. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has tried to realign her government with the two million-plus residents of western Sydney, telling them they needed recognition, respect and shouldn't be viewed as second-rate.

Ms Gillard on Sunday began a five-day tour of the area, which is the third biggest economy in the nation, and a region in which Labor is facing seat losses that could send it into opposition.

"I want to make sure that areas like Sydney's west - and the people who live and work here - get a fairer share of what you create," she said in her election-style speech to ALP supporters.

"You deserve it because of your work and your endeavour."

Labor's stocks in western Sydney have been dwindling since Ms Gillard overthrew former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2010 and voters took out their anger on the former NSW ALP government in 2011.

A number of key federal seats - including Lindsay, Fowler, Parramatta, Greenway, Banks and Werriwa - are held by tight margins and could be lost to the Liberals if the current trend in the opinion polls continues.

About 1000 ALP members attended Ms Gillard's address at the University of Western Sydney, where Home Affairs minister Jason Clare likened her to the area's residents.

"A Labor prime minister made of the same stuff as western Sydney - toughness, hard work, courage, determination, dreams and aspirations," he said.

In her speech, Ms Gillard referenced government initiatives in health, education and its national broadband network project and said she was determined to make lives easier.

"Put simply, we don't accept that other suburbs come first and you come second," she said.

Ms Gillard promised to put jobs and Australian workers first, deliver the National Disability Insurance Scheme, improve schools and help families manage living costs.

She noted pressures on manufacturing businesses, particularly in western Sydney, due to the high Australian dollar which is making exports more expensive and less competitive.

But the area was better equipped than others to adapt and rise to meet the opportunities presented by the rise of the Asian middle class over the next 20 years.

"So let's go and get that work, seize that opportunity, create those jobs," Ms Gillard said.

The prime minister also raised the spectre of the coalition revisiting its dumped Work Choices policy, warning that "another path" could led to wage cuts.

"I'll always fight anyone and everyone who wants to take us down that path," she said.

While Ms Gillard referred several times to her plan help families "making a good life", she made no further policy announcements.

On transport infrastructure, a key issue in an area where commutes are long and traffic is dense, Ms Gillard said she would have more to say in coming days.

Earlier on Sunday, the government announced a plan to fight gang-related drug and gun crime, which has risen in western Sydney, by creating a $64 million National Anti-Gang Taskforce.

Before her speech, a number of ALP members said they believed Ms Gillard was being treated unfairly in the media.

"She's bagged no matter what she does," Carol Christie, 45, from Dulwich Hill, said.

Also attending the event were ministers Wayne Swan, Bob Carr, Anthony Albanese, Chris Bowen, Tony Burke, Greg Combet, Craig Emerson and Peter Garrett.

The federal election is on September 14.

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