After section 23 of the Geothermal Energy Resources Act 2005 insert —
(1) If more than one application under section 23(2)(a) is received on the same day in respect of the same land, the Minister must assign an order of priority to those applications.
(2) In assessing the order of priority under subsection (1), the Minister must take into account the chief factors set out in sections 20(2)(a) to 20(2)(e).
(3) The application that has been assigned the highest priority under this section must be assessed without regard to anything contained in applications having a lower priority.".