PARAMEDICS CALLED FOR BOOTH MEDICAL EPISODES
AMBULANCES were called to the Clifton Beach booth twice on Saturday after a person fainted and another suffered a suspected heart attack during 45-minute queues in the sun.
The Australian Electoral Commission copped criticism for understaffing and spreading resources too thin across a huge number of booths.
LNP Far North regional chairman Michael Trout was there when the two people dropped to the ground.
“This morning the queue was 45 minutes or longer at Clifton Beach – and it was like that at other booths too,” Mr Trout said.
“The ambulance was called twice and it took them 45 minutes to arrive as well.”
The AEC had 32 polling booths across Cairns – and that was just for Leichhardt.
“It’s not the workers’ fault. One of the AEC people said to me, ‘Who the hell wants to sign up to work for 16 hours straight?’” Mr Trout said.
“They start before it opens and they’ll be there until a stupid time at night.
“Having two shifts of eight hours and half the booths would have been a lot better.”