A lot of employers are pushing to get workers back into physical offices at least 2 days a week. In addition if you want a career not just a job it's generally going to still centre around Sydney, Melbourne or another capital city for a lot of industries eg Finance, Insurance, Telcos, IT etc.
Living and buying in Sydney can be a long term plan too. More expensive now but likely to pay off with capital growth in 20 years time too. Can then sell and retire in a regional area with cash to spare.
Personally if I worked where I live my earning capacity would tap out at around half of my current salary or restricted to a small pool of employers that allow 100% wfh. This is why people stay in Sydney and tolerate commuting to work.
