00:00More than ever, young people are taking a punt and moving regional.
00:03The houses are cheaper, the commutes are shorter, but what's the catch?
00:07Here in Albury-Wodonga, mental health advocates are pleading with young people
00:11to please consider their mental health needs before they make the leap inland.
00:15After years of different treatment for complex trauma and mental health issues,
00:2020-year-old Katie Kendall wants things to change.
00:23Where she's from, there are zero mental health beds for adolescents
00:27and young people are transported more than three hours away
00:30to Box Hill Hospital for care.
00:33There's just not the access to services here that are needed
00:38and I think if you're moving, you definitely need to consider
00:41not only mental health but physical health services as well.
00:45There's a real lack of them and yeah, it might be cheaper
00:51or you might think it's cheaper in the regions,
00:53but if you need to travel to Melbourne or Sydney or Canberra
00:57every week or multiple times a week, it's not cheaper in the long run.
01:01Greens candidate and mental health advocate Richard Hendry
01:04makes a 600-kilometre round trip for his own treatment.
01:08He wants to see state and federal government
01:11work together for young people in the region.
01:14Medicare, the federal government will fund Medicare sessions.
01:18The states will fund community care
01:20but there's nothing else in between, right?
01:23So there's no housing, education.
01:27That's a huge, huge problem.
01:29And then they sort of do that sort of blame.
01:32Who's the responsible person?
01:33I want to see more young people stay in the regions
01:35and live here in the regions and raise families here in the regions.
01:39But what is the cost benefit of that?
01:42There's a huge opportunity cost.
01:43The cost of living here is a sacrifice somewhere else.
01:47And so the cost of living here
01:49is a sacrifice of quality health care in Sydney and Melbourne.
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