The Northern Territory government will restrict the sale of alcohol in Alice Springs amid a surging youth crime crisis that has left many in the community calling for federal intervention.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the remote city on Tuesday, where he met the territory government, the local council, community groups, police and frontline services providers.

He was joined by Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, who along with NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, announced a series of measures that are designed to curb the violence and anti-social activity.

They included an immediate ban on the sale of takeaway alcohol in the region on Mondays and Tuesdays and reduced trading hours on other days between 3pm and 7pm, with a limit of one purchase per person each day.

A central Australian regional controller has also been appointed to ensure all levels of government are working together to deliver services to the community.

The controller, Dorrelle Anderson, will also review the replacement of opt-in alcohol restrictions that replaced expired Intervention-era bans last year.

Mr Albanese also promised to spend millions of extra dollars to bolster security and continue community services and programs in Alice Springs and the region.

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Earlier, NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said alcohol and dysfunctional remote communities were to blame, 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 from 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 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. I believe those solutions are within the NT, not from the military,” she said.

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Alice Springs traditional owner group Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation said decades of “chronic and systemic neglect” in remote communities had fuelled the crisis, which was “out of control”.

“The men, women and children on the streets of Alice Springs are rarely (local) Arrernte people,” chief executive Graeme Smith said.

“They are almost all from bush communities where they live in third world conditions with no future and little hope.”

He said for many, Alice Springs streets were better than their own “crowded, broken and impoverished” communities.

Alice Springs school principal and town councillor Gavin Morris said some children were on the streets because homes were unsafe.

“No one is going back to a community that doesn’t have power and water and basic infrastructure,” he told ABC News.

“They come to Alice Springs to get basic service around health and education.”

NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said he would welcome any federal support, including more police, but strongly rejected the deployment of the defence force to impose 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.

“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.”

Federal deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley 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.”