Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he will be imploring his Cabinet colleagues to agree to the Crown facilitating access to geothermal energy to address the country's energy woes.
Jones, speaking at the New Zealand First conference, also promised an imminent announcement that would "force" fuel companies to store reserves at the decommissioned Marsden Point oil refinery.
The announcements came from an engaging speech from the so-called "veteran of vocabulary" which closed day one of the Hamilton conference, during which an Australian senator warned of the nasty debate the Treaty Principles Bill would provoke and party members battled through contentious policy proposals.
Addressing more than 250 party delegates at the Distinction Hotel, Jones decried a broken energy system that had recently led to New Zealanders paying the most in the world for power, prompting the closure of pulp and timber mills.
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