The mental health unit at Albury hospital has long needed to be replaced by a more modern and substantial centre to help the anguished.

But there has been uncertainty and ambiguity about the fate of Nolan House.

Two weeks ago, the member for Albury Greg Aplin trumpeted support for the service when the NSW budget was delivered.

“Today the exciting news that Nolan House – the Border's acute mental health facility – will be reimagined and rebuilt with planning funding to commence the process,” Mr Aplin said in a media release.

The Liberal MP did not reply to The Border Mail’s calls to explain what “reimagined” meant in practice.

Then on Friday, at the opening of the cardiac catheter lab at the hospital, Mr Aplin used his speech to say his government was providing “$20 million-plus for the recently-announced rebuild for the region’s acute mental health facility”.

He later clarified to The Border Mail that $20 million was a “working figure” but “the money is there”.

This is good news, but there are still plenty of headaches to navigate.

As Mr Aplin noted there are planning procedures and a contribution from Victoria to be nutted out.

Disappointingly, the Victorian Mental Health Minister Martin Foley was not prepared to outline his government’s budget for the work when asked about Nolan House by The Border Mail during a visit to Wangaratta last week.

Instead, he cited federal government budget cuts as the “real killer” for Nolan House’s prospects of scoring Victorian support. 

Well the Victorian government stumped up $461.6 million for a new Ballarat hospital and $115 million to expand Wonthaggi hospital as part of a budget it described as building on record health investment.

So it’s not as though there is no money available for regional work.

Friends of Nolan House president Les Schmutter summed up our thoughts in his comment to The Border Mail after the NSW budget.

“Obviously there are a few gaps to be filled,” he said.