Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has urged for a bipartisan approach to energy policy, so the industry can have certainty.
Ms Bishop has downplayed suggestions she was calling for agreement on the coalition's dumped National Energy Guarantee, given that Labor has put it on the table.
"What I was suggesting was that given we have had so much uncertainty surrounding energy policy for so long," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
"The ground must be fertile for there to be negotiation around energy policy because business is demanding certainty."
Confidence is needed for long-term investments to drive generating capacity, she added.
"I'm agnostic about the type of generating capacity but they need a framework for stability of an energy policy."
When asked about Ms Bishop's comments, Prime Minister Scott Morrison turned the tables to suggest Labor is considering a price on carbon.
"This government will not introduce a carbon tax. We won't introduce a carbon tax," Mr Morrison told parliament.
"Our government has a responsible emissions reduction target of 26 per cent."
The coalition officially scrapped the NEG in September, after debate over the policy played a key role in the downfall of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
But Labor has now thrown its support behind the NEG, leaving business leaders briefly hopeful of an end to the decade-long climate wars in Australia.
Mr Morrison quickly dashed those hopes on Friday, refusing to back the plan developed by now treasurer and then energy minister Josh Frydenberg.
The NEG was the only policy that could achieve the "elusive" bipartisanship on energy business is craving, Ms Bishop told the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday.
The government's current approach to energy involves prioritising reducing household power costs, including by taking a "big stick" to energy companies through new divestiture laws.
Ms Bishop said reliability and affordability of energy is important but "this must and has to be balanced with concerns for our environment and preservation for our planet".
Labor energy spokesman Mark Butler said Ms Bishop was right to suggest the NEG was the best chance for a solution to the energy crisis, adding it was not too late for Mr Morrison to get on board.
"We have two weeks of parliament set for the rest of the year. We are ready to start discussions this afternoon on finishing the work of the National Energy Guarantee," he told reporters in Canberra.
Mr Turnbull will buy into the debate next week when he gives a speech on "opportunities for a clean energy transition" at the NSW Smart Energy Summit in Sydney.
