Motorcyclist killed in Melbourne's north

A MOTORCYCLIST has died in a collision with a car in Melbourne's north.

Victoria Police say the man, who is believed to be aged in his late 30s, died at the scene of the accident in Greenvale at about 11.30pm on Sunday.

They say the exact cause of the crash has yet to be determined but they think the car struck the man's motorbike at the junction of Somerton Road and Fleetwood Drive.

The female driver was alone in the car and uninjured. She is assisting police with their inquiries.

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Council demands action after record summer

THE Climate Council says Australia experienced "another angry summer" this year, with more than 150 temperature records broken.

The environmental group's report Angry Summer will be released by Professor Tim Flannery on Monday, who said Australia witnessed substantial heat records, heatwaves and extreme weather events over the season.

According to the report, Sydney had its driest summer in 27 years, and Melbourne experienced its hottest ever 24 hour period with an average temperature of 35.5 degrees celsius.

Perth had its second hottest summer and its hottest ever night, and Adelaide suffered through a record 11 days of 42 degrees or more.

Meanwhile, towns from Tamworth to Mount Gambia to Roma all broke records for the daily maximum temperature.

Professor Flannery said the scorching summer was part of an overall trend of more extreme weather events in Australia, and called for action on cutting carbon emissions.

"The latest summer was an another example of climate change tearing through the record books," he said in a statement.

"If we want to stop them getting worse this is the critical decade for action."

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NSW inquiry into Ellis case opens

A PUBLIC hearing into the Catholic Church's handling of a child sexual abuse claim that ended up in the NSW courts opens in Sydney on Monday.

John Ellis, a lawyer who was abused as a child by a priest in the Sydney parish of Bass Hill, sued the Archdiocese of Sydney as well as the trustees of the church in 2005.

The case ended up in the High Court, which decided a trust could not be held liable for abuse.

The same court upheld a lower court decision that Archbishop George Pell could not be sued over abuse that occurred decades before he became archbishop of Sydney.

The case has become known as the Ellis defence and it is alleged the church uses it to persuade abuse victims to settle complaints through the internal process called Towards Healing.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing will focus on Mr Ellis's experiences in the Towards Healing process and in civil litigation.

The hearing will be the second commission case study examining the application of Towards Healing.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said the hearing will be an opportunity for the commission to examine the response of the Catholic Church to Mr Ellis's claim, including "the circumstances in which the Catholic Church raised what is commonly referred to as the Ellis defence".

Cardinal Pell, who has just been appointed to a senior position as head of Vatican finances in Rome, will give evidence during the hearing, which may run for two weeks.

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Qld plane family 'braced for worst'

RELATIVES of a Queensland couple feared dead after the Malaysia Airlines plane they were travelling on disappeared over the South China Sea have thanked Australians for their support but say they are braced for bad news.

"All the family members are trying to remain positive for any hope of survivors (but) we are bracing ourselves for the worst possible outcome," the family of Cathy and Bob Lawton said in a statement released by Queensland police.

The Lawtons, who are parents to three children and grandparents to two, were among six Australians on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 when it vanished from radar early Saturday somewhere at sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had 239 people on board, including a second Queensland couple, Rodney and Mary Burrows, and Paul Weeks, a New Zealander living in Western Australia.

Authorities are still searching for the plane while investigating suspect passengers who boarded with stolen passports.

"We wish to thank the Australian public for their well wishes and prayers," the statement said.

"Our family is at present trying to come to terms with this terrible tragedy.

"Our family's hearts go out to all of the 239 passengers, crew and their families on board this flight."

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