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Rising energy costs are the latest problem for renters living in "brutal" conditions over winter, research shows.

Researchers tracked temperature and humidity - key to mould growth - in more than 70 rental homes nationwide through June and July and found the homes were routinely below safe temperature levels.

The Cold and Costly report, released on Tuesday, calls for Australian governments to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards for rental properties to better protect renters.

"Renters told us about getting sick more often, about a constant state of worry over energy costs, and an unending battle against mould and damp," said Joel Dignam, head of advocacy group Better Renters.

But many aren't choosing between a cold home and expensive bills - they end up with both.

"Many of the homes in this study were so substandard that even when people chose to run their costly, inefficient heaters, they were still unable to get warm," the report said.

Nor were they able to make changes to weatherproofing, insulating, and energy systems.

Cold temperatures in substandard housing have been linked with higher blood pressure, reduced immunity, more intense asthma, and greater incidence of mental illness.

"The data paints a frightful picture of the brutal conditions people are facing in their homes," Mr Dignam said.

Across Australia, indoor temperatures were below healthy levels three-quarters of the time.

A comparison group of owners in energy efficient homes barely recorded temperatures below a key safe level of 18 degrees, at less than five per cent.

NSW had the highest average humidity of any jurisdiction, with 83 per cent of recordings above 60 per cent and more than half above 70 per cent relative humidity.

The high humidity explained the ongoing mould problems in many NSW rental homes, the report said.

South Australia was the second-highest, also risking persistent mould on floors, walls and ceilings.

Tasmanian renters had the greatest amount of time below 18 degrees. At 91 per cent, this was over 21 hours per day below the recommended minimum healthy temperature.

Although Tasmania spent more time in cold temperatures, on average ACT renters were colder indoors than anywhere else.

NT was a mixed picture with Darwin enjoying relatively manageable temperatures and humidity, while Alice Springs renters were below 18 degrees for most (89.5 per cent) of the time.

© AAP 2022

Newcastle have launched an investigation after video footage emerged of a security guard escorting Knights co-captain Kalyn Ponga and utility Kurt Mann out of a toilet cubicle.

In the clip, the security guard is surprised to see Ponga emerge before both men leave quietly with their drinks.

The video was filmed on Snapchat.

Newcastle told AAP they were made aware of the video late on Sunday night but that they were still working to determine the reason for the pair's run-in with security.

The Knights are as yet unsure when the clip was filmed but Ponga has been sidelined since round 19, when he suffered a concussion in the loss to the Sydney Roosters.

"The Newcastle Knights have been informed of a matter involving current players," the Knights said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

"Knights' management has commenced a process to gather all the required facts.

"Until such time no further comment will be provided."

The video began circulating on social media soon after Ponga ruled himself out for the remainder of the NRL season with his concussion.

Ponga's latest head knock was his third in six weeks and prompted the fullback to consult with a neurologist.

Given the Knights won't play finals this year, the club have taken a cautious approach to Ponga's injury.

"I'd be sweet for the last round but doing no contact for the year, it probably would be a wise thing not to play the last round," Ponga told Triple M Newcastle radio on Sunday, before the video emerged.

"It's a bit weird. I feel OK now. At the start I felt a bit weird, headaches and what-not, but I feel alright now.

"It's just hard. I feel OK. I feel fit. I want to play but I guess I'm just going through the protocols at the moment."

Ponga has been the Knights' co-captain since the beginning of the season and in April, signed a five-year contract extension to remain at the club until the end of 2027.

Mann is currently sidelined with a quad injury but is expected to return for the Knights' last game of the season at home to Cronulla.

© AAP 2022

US actress Anne Heche, the Emmy-winning film and television star whose dramatic Hollywood rise in the 1990s and accomplished career contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil, has died of injuries suffered in a fiery car crash in Los Angeles last week.

She was 53.

Spokeswoman Holly Baird on Sunday said Heche "been peacefully taken off life support."

Heche had been on life support at a Los Angeles burn centre after suffering a severe brain injury when her car crashed into a home August 5, according to a statement released on Thursday by a representative on behalf of her family and friends.

She had not been expected to survive the crash, in which her car was embedded in the house as flames erupted.

She was declared brain dead on Friday, but had remained on life support for possible organ donation. Her heart stopped Sunday.

Heche played opposite Harrison Ford, Johnny Deep and other stars during a steady screen career that contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil.

An Ohio native, Heche first came to prominence on the soap opera Another World from 1987 to 1991. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for the role.

In the late 1990s she became one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films.

In 1997 alone, she co-starred with Depp in Donnie Brasco and with Ford in Six Days, Seven Nights.

Around the same time, her personal life led to even greater fame, and both personal and professional upheaval.

She met talk show host Ellen DeGeneres at a the 1997 Vanity Fair Oscar party and they began a three-year relationship that made one of Hollywood's first openly gay couples.

But Heche later said her career was damaged by an industry wary of casting her in leading roles. She would remember advisers opposing her decision to have DeGeneres accompany her to the premiere of Volcano.

After she and DeGeneres parted, Heche had a public breakdown and would speak candidly of her mental health struggles.

In 2000, soon after her break-up with DeGeneres, Heche was hospitalised after knocking on the door of a stranger in a rural area near Fresno, California. Authorities said she had appeared shaken and disoriented and spoke incoherently.

She later had a son with camera operator Coleman Laffoon, to whom she was married from 2001 to 2009. She had another son during a relationship with actor James Tupper, her co-star on the TV series Men In Trees.

© AP 2022