Fuel theft is on the rise in Australia as motorists reach breaking point over the spiralling costs at the bowser.

Incidents of theft have been reported on the streets of regional Victoria and in Queensland, including brazen thieves who siphoned fuel from trucks as drivers slept at rest stops.

The cost of unleaded petrol has now nudged $3 per litre, crippling motorists and businesses, as the global oil crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East shows no sign of easing.

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Victoria Police are investigating afters several streets in Kyneton, in central Victoria, were targeted by fuel thieves yesterday and on Friday.

It is believed unknown offenders tampered with fuel cap covers of cars parked along Wedge and Powlett streets between 5pm on Friday and 8am yesterday, police said.

An investigation into the incidents is now under way.

Meanwhile, truck drivers in rural Queensland have been urged to lock their fuel tanks after drivers reported having fuel stolen overnight as they slept.

"With the rising cost of fuel across Australia, unfortunately we all know what tends to follow… opportunistic theft," a spokesperson for Ambrose Haulage Pty Ltd said on Facebook

"One of our drivers had a very close call overnight at Moonie with someone attempting to access the truck.

"Please keep an extra eye out when you're parked up especially overnight."

The surging price of fuel and regional shortage has prompted calls for stricter fuel rationing across the country.

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One Nation's Barnaby Joyce said now was the time to ramp up conservation efforts as our existing stock is depleted.

"We should be going towards rationing," Joyce said.

"The problem is taking its second iteration, because you've got to remember, the oil we were using at the start of the crisis had already been extracted from the Middle East.

"So we weren't having to contend with the closure of the Strait of Hormoz. It's actually going to become more difficult."

Current petrol supplies are expected to run dry at the end of April.

The International Energy Agency has urged Australians to work form home or catch public transport to preserve fuel.

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Tropical Cyclone Narelle has crossed the Australian coast for a second time overnight but forecasters are warning it could hit a third state in coming days.

The severe tropical cyclone packed a punch as it made landfall in the Northern Territory, hitting as a category 3 system and bringing with it wind gusts of up to 185km/h.

It's now forecast to dissipate to a tropical low as it gets towards Katherine but the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has given it a "moderate" chance of becoming a cyclone again on Monday, after moving across the Top End.

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"There is a moderate chance that Narelle redevelops into a tropical cyclone while in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf near the NT/WA border," the latest BoM advice said.

Before heading across to Western Australia, Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is set to impact coastal areas between Birany Birany and Numbulwar.

A severe weather warning is in place for heavy, locally intense rainfall with potential for dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding between Birany Birany and Numbulwar, including Groote Eylandt, extending inland towards Bulman on Sunday.

Very damaging wind gusts are also forecast for the region.

As the storm moves west, the bureau warns damaging wind gusts of 90km/h are possible between King George River Mouth and the border region.

Flash flooding caused by heavy rain is possible for the north Kimberley during Monday.

A number of flood warnings are in place across both states.

Queensland cleanup under way

Meanwhile, multiple flood warnings remain current in Queensland, which was the first state hit by the storm.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle swept over the Cape York Peninsula, narrowly missing populated communities.

Despite up to 400mm of rain falling in parts of the state, swelling creeks and rivers, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the state escaped largely unscathed.

"It walked a tightrope perfectly between Coen and Lockhart River, and then ducked just south of Aurukun as it exited on the western side of the Cape," Crisafulli said.

"The fact that it went right between two of the larger populated centres was a real blessing."

Crews are now working to clear minor structural damage, fallen trees and fix power outages.

Authorities have warned it may take some time to get food and fuel to isolated communities after flood water cut travel by land, leaving the Cooktown airport as the only way to get people and supplies in.

Queensland is now offering assistance to the NT with storm clean-up equipment.

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The war in the Middle East has re-awakened an alarming feature of modern warfare: the weaponisation of disinformation.

Propaganda is certainly not a new concept, but militaries, governments and regimes can now control or disrupt the narrative with unfettered access to billions of people through social media.

This way, the truth can be twisted and disinformation can thrive.

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Global citizens are witnessing the war in real-time.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sends war communications directly into phones via encrypted app Telegram and X.

US President Donald Trump chronicles every move on his own Truth Social platform.

The constant stream of contradicting updates is muddied further by citizen journalism, fake reports and artificial intelligence (AI).

"You get flooded with information and you think you're being informed, but often you're just getting pummeled with unverified data," Senior Policy Advisor at Australian National University (ANU)'s National Security College David Andrews told Nine.com.au.

"Basically no one is equipped to be able to filter that, and it's actually really bad for your mental health as well.

"It undermines your critical thinking, which is almost what these attempts rely on."

There is a constant power struggle between Iran, the US and Israel to be percieved as the "good" fighting "evil".

And all sides use social media to alter public perception.

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Social media is now flooded with fake and unverified images, recycled footage and fabricated reports from on the ground in the war against Iran.

One disturbing AI video of Dubai's Burj Khalifa up in flames circulated on Instagram, while another fake report claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been killed.

The sheer scale of AI images and videos on social media means the untrained eye cannot discern what is real and what is not.

There is no rush to correct the record on either side and, like an infection, the reports spread.

Andrews said this unchecked disinformation highway is unprecedented.

"I think the disinformation campaigns are definitely ramping up now in a way that we haven't seen before, which is a function of the information environment that we're in," he said.

"And that is an opportunity that our adversaries have taken advantage of, I think, quite effectively."

AI is of particular concern as the conflict escalates and models become more sophistocated.

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting notes that AI acts as a "force multiplier, enhancing the speed, precision, and scale of military operations, while simultaneously enabling sophisticated, automated disinformation campaigns"

"And the more that AI-based systems and technology are normalised and pushed, I think those risks only accelerate to an enormous degree," Andrews said.

Militaries have quietly spun narratives of fake victories or exaggerated attacks too.

This type of fake news is particularly powerful inside a regime.

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"It could be creating a generalised sense of uncertainty and distrust, a generalised sense of that one side is doing much better than they are in reality," Andrews said.

"But it could also be directed inwards and to say, 'Well, look, there's these reports of how wonderfully our forces are doing and how the enemy has been defeated'."

The horse has bolted on AI and fake news.

But Andrews said the average person can try to separate fact from fiction in a few different ways.

It takes a level of personal responsbility for your own algorithm.

"You have to read widely and try and find things that sort of complement the quick and reactive with the slower and more considerate," he said.

"Each has their place, but if we're just relying on something like social media that provides that minute-by-minute update, none of us are actually equipped to translate that information effectively.

"You might look at the flow of social media for a little bit, but then you've got to sit back and then read reports that happen over multiple days to try and balance that out and apply that critical lens."

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Amy Hipwell can't remember anyone sitting her down for a serious conversation about her mental health.

In five years, Hipwell and her husband Chris endured a rollercoaster of heartbreak, anxiety, grief and joy, welcoming two healthy children into their family, but also losing three to stillbirth, miscarriage and a rare genetic disorder.

Despite the devastating and compounding grief, the first person to suggest the new mum might need some support for her mental health, apart from her husband, was not a doctor. It was her cleaner.

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The couple's firstborn daughter Emily was stillborn at 28 weeks due to a suspected clotting issue in the umbilical cord.

Soon afterwards, Hipwell suffered an early miscarriage.

During her third pregnancy with Julia (now 17), Hipwell recalls being wracked with anxiety.

"I was constantly worried about what was going to happen," Hipwell told 9news.com.au.

While her obstetrician took precautions with her physical health, prescribing blood thinners and ordering additional tests, that only went so far in calming her anxiety.

"The appointments and the screenings are very medical," Hipwell said.

"There was nothing about my mental health and how I would look after myself in the pregnancy."

Her anxiety only worsened after Julia was born.

"I was obviously so happy that I had a healthy baby, but then so worried that I was going to lose her," Hipwell said.

"I didn't let people hold her, I was really hyper vigilant… but it was never talked about or questioned, like, you know, 'maybe you want to go and get some support for how anxious you're feeling'."

When Julia was 18 months, Amy fell pregnant again with another girl, Skye.

The family had moved from Victoria to Brisbane, were seeing a different obstetrician and had little support from family or friends.

At the 12-week scan, they learned Skye had Trisomy 18, a genetic condition. Further scans showed a hole in her heart and an umbilical hernia.

The couple was told Skye would have a less than 1 per cent chance of surviving more than a week after birth.

They decided to terminate the pregnancy and Hipwell was induced around 17 weeks.

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"That was probably the most traumatic experience I've had in a hospital situation and losing another baby girl was devastating for us," Hipwell said.

"We just got sent home and there was nothing… I don't recall any support at all."

The family moved back to Victoria and Hipwell fell pregnant with her son Nathan in 2010.

Despite her history of three pregnancy losses, Hipwell doesn't recall any discussion about her mental health during that pregnancy or after Nathan was born.

"I was on my own at home with a baby and a toddler, and I guess, gradually, I was just not coping," Hipwell said.

"I would just be crying all the time, I didn't feel like I was bonding with Nathan."

It was Hipwell's cleaner who eventually spoke up, echoing her husband's concerns.

"I was just sitting there crying and crying… she did a clean for an hour then sat there and said, you know, 'it sounds like you really might need some help'."

An internet search then led her to PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia).

"I remember calling them and crying, and just going, 'I don't know what's wrong, I don't want to even be at home anymore, I don't want to look after this baby, I just can't do it'.

"I just wanted to get on a plane and leave and never come back."

Hipwell's experience is not isolated.

More than one in five (22 per cent) of respondents to a recent survey by PANDA say healthcare providers did not ask about their mental health at all.

Less than half (43 per cent) said anxiety was included in screening.

"Healthcare providers should be regularly asking expecting and new mothers, dads and partners how they are feeling emotionally," Julie Borninkhof, a clinical psychologist and PANDA CEO said.

She said some healthcare professionals will only have received a few hours of mental health training.

"GPs, child and family health nurses and midwives receive mental health training, but often it is not specific to the perinatal period, and training may only be a few hours in their whole course," Borninkhof said.

"Picking up anxiety and depression among expecting and new parents can be difficult.

"Matrescence is a time of huge adjustment, changing hormones and sleep deprivation.

"Many people struggle to cope but don't think what they are experiencing is anxiety or depression.

"Symptoms are so different for each person that we recommend reaching out if you are finding it hard to cope or you don't feel like yourself, regardless of the reason why."

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Borninkhof said without support, a parent's mental health will often worse before it gets better and that can impact the child's well-being and development.

"For some parents, when their mental health isn't supported, it can become life-threatening for themselves, and/or their baby and children.

"While this is rare, PANDA wants parents to be the best they can be, and this means getting help early.

"The perinatal period is also the first key stage in the development of an infant's physical and mental health.

"Prioritising the well-being of parents, while simultaneously and intentionally responding proactively to the needs of the infant, can impact intergenerational well-being by setting parents up well to model good mental health and build strong foundations for their children."

Anyone having trouble coping with pregnancy or new parenthood, or wanting to help someone who may be struggling can visit panda.org.au or call the PANDA Helpline on 1300 726 306 (Mon-Fri, 9am-7:30pm and Sat 9am-4pm AEST/AEDT)

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue.