The prime minister has landed in Alice Springs for talks about surging youth crime rates in the remote city, which one of his senior ministers has branded a crisis.
Anthony Albanese and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney will tour the red centre, where many locals are fed up with the violence and anti-social activity.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says alcohol and dysfunctional communities were the cause, but another Howard-era intervention, with booze bans and welfare controls, was not the answer.
"We need to talk to the Commonwealth about needs-based funding for certain services," she told Sky News on Tuesday after arriving in Alice Springs.
"I don't believe we need federal intervention from the police or the military."
Ms Fyles said the problems in Alice Springs were multifaceted and decades old but they needed to be solved urgently.
"I've met with police here in Alice Springs today and they're as frustrated as I am but we won't give up, we will continue to work on solutions (and) I believe those solutions are within the NT, not from the military," she said.
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten said the crisis demanded immediate attention but resolving the issue could not just be a police issue.
"It will be tackling the root causes of what's causing the heartache and the distress," he told Sky News.
"It is a crisis. There's no question there are real problems there."
He said the people of Alice Springs didn't want another heavy-handed response from Canberra.
NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said he would welcome any federal support, including more police, but strongly rejected the deployment of the defence force with the purpose of imposing martial law.
"We cannot arrest our way out of this," he said.
Mr Chalker said failed social policies and alcohol were part of the problem, but he stopped short of calling for a reinstatement of mandatory dry areas.
"My people are continuing to surge to the line, but where is everybody else?" he told ABC radio.
"There's a lot of services that just simply are not available on the ground in these remote communities.
"You add alcohol consumption into the mix and family tensions, and then we're dealing with the fallout of that too."
He said Townsville was also suffering significant social order issues, along with towns in the Kimberley region.
"There is something acutely underlying here," he said.
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley also stopped short of calling for the reinstatement of mandatory alcohol bans but said the government needed to do better.
"These are complex issues, they're not easily solved and there needs to be some tough love," she said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton branded it "the biggest issue in our country today".
"There are reports of kids running around with machetes, children not wanting to go back home because they feel it's unsafe to stay there so they're out committing crimes," he said.
"It's a law and order and crime problem."
NT Opposition spokesman on families and youth Joshua Burgoyne said locals wanted "boots on the ground to make an immediate impact" not a visit from the prime minister.
"As a matter of urgency, Mr Albanese should reintroduce the Stronger Futures measures," he said.
"We need the federal government to listen to the voices within its own ranks and reverse their decision to push the grog back into communities."