News Digest: PM’s popularity soars, NSW Covid-19 hotspots and prescription ‘rip-offs’

PM Scott Morrison has extended his lead over Labor’s Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister, the latest Newspoll for The Australian, shows, even as the primary vote for both Labor and the Coalition falls back. The Coalition still maintains a very comfortable lead over Labor though, with the Opposition’s primary vote now below its May 2019 election result.

In Sydney, a public health alert has been issued after a pharmacy worker in the Hills district tested positive for Covid-19, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. And NSW Health has issued a list of other locations, including Parramatta, Bonnyrigg, Potts Point, Fairfield and Bankstown, where additional outbreaks have been identified, asking anyone who has been in the specific locations in the past two weeks to get a coronavirus test if they notice even the mildest symptoms. You can find the full NSW Health list here.

Meanwhile, a News Corp investigation published by The Daily Telegraph looks into how pharmacies are allegedly ramping up the cost of prescription medicines. A deal between the government and the Pharmacy Guild allows chemists to add up to five separate, additional charges to the cost of a medication when filling a prescription, according to the report. The charges can take the cost of a drug from just over $1.50 to almost $20 when dispensed, the investigation found.

Melbourne’s The Age reports that Greens leader Adam Bandt will call for a $3 billion federal investment in aged care, in part to combat the issues arising from the privatisation of the aged care industry. The newspaper says Scott Morrison has hinted at additional measures for the troubled sector in the October budget.

And in the US, eyes are on presidential nominee Joe Biden’s pick for running mate when he takes on President Donald Trump in November. The ABC reports that pundits are positing Biden, who is due to announce his running mate within days, will pick a woman, with Kamala Harris (a sitting US senator for California), Susan Rice (the former US ambassador to the UN and US national security adviser) and Elizabeth Warren (the former Wall Street regulator and a sitting US senator for Massachusetts) at the top of the list of likely choices.