Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper says the government has "shown a willingness" to support his Newcastle port legislation as backroom negotiations continue in Macquarie Street.
Mr Piper tabled a bill in Parliament last week which would establish that controversial penalties payable by Port of Newcastle for moving containers above a set cap have "no legal effect".
The penalties effectively exclude Newcastle from developing a large-scale freight terminal to rival Botany and Kembla until 2065.
Labor on Tuesday proposed a series of amendments which it says are designed to ensure a terminal gets built if the legislation passes, and Mr Piper has referred these to Parliamentary legal counsel.
The horse trading has continued between Mr Piper, Labor, the Liberals and the Nationals behind closed doors over the past two days.
Nationals rank-and-file members have voted in support of a Newcastle container terminal, but so far the party's leadership has not commented on Mr Piper's bill.
Nor have the Liberals offered public commentary on the proposal.
Mr Piper had intended for the bill to be debated in Parliament on Thursday, but he issued a statement saying this debate would be postponed until the next sitting week in November.
"I'm very pleased that the Coalition government and Labor opposition are now at the table to find a way forward for the Port of Newcastle," he said.
"Both the government and the opposition have shown a willingness to find a solution, with the opposition proposing amendments to my bill.
"Discussions are ongoing and will likely take a little more time, so I've agreed to defer debate on the bill until the next sitting week of the Parliament in November.
"I can assure everyone in my local community and throughout the Hunter and northern NSW that I remain committed to the bill's intent and getting a resolution in November."
Mr Piper said the intent of the bill was "not negotiable", a signal that he would not accept amendments which watered down its commitment to scrapping the penalties on Newcastle container movements.
"We have to unshackle Newcastle and regional NSW from the constraints imposed on the Port of Newcastle," he said.
"We cannot sit by for the next 43 years in a deal which so significantly disadvantages the Hunter and regional NSW while delivering a monopoly to the operator of Port Botany and Port Kembla, especially when we have $2.4 billion worth of investment in Newcastle and thousands of new jobs at stake."
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