Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie expects the government's "big stick" energy legislation to be dealt with in parliament in April.
But her cabinet colleague, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, has instead vowed to seek a mandate for the divestiture powers at the May election.
Scott Morrison on Thursday shelved the legislation - aimed at forcibly divesting energy companies - after the Greens secured support from Labor and the crossbench to amend the bill and effectively ban the government from underwriting new coal-fired power.
The prime minister would have lost a vote on the legislation in the House of Representatives, handing his government another embarrassing defeat.
Even still, Senator McKenzie expects the legislation to be voted on before the next federal election, which is due in mid-May.
"My understanding is it's our intention as a government to introduce that legislation in the April sittings," she told Sky News on Friday.
"It's part of our policy, it's part of ensuring Australian consumers can have confidence that big, multi-national energy companies will be held to account."
However, Senator Cormann said the government would take the legislation to the election.
"We believe the biggest stick that we can get in order to drive electricity down is a mandate from the Australian people at the next election," he said.
Labor's energy spokesman Mark Butler said the government would either go to the election with no energy policy, or with a platform of spending billions of dollars on coal-fired power stations.
"While the Liberals continue to fight their internal ideological battles, investment uncertainty in the energy sector means Australians are missing out on thousands of good new jobs," he said.
"Only Labor has a plan for more renewables and cheaper power."
Australian Associated Press
