NT funding under scrutiny as finance minister travels to Darwin

The Northern Territory government is under scrutiny from the Commonwealth, with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher travelling to Darwin for a meeting with the acting chief minister.

Ms Gallagher says the Commonwealth has concerns about how federally-funded programs are being administered by the NT government.

Acting Chief Minister Gerard Maley says it is "a bit rich" for Ms Gallagher to "come up here and tell us what to do" and has reiterated calls for an audit of programs directly funded by the Commonwealth.

Federal Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has met with the Northern Territory's acting chief minister over concerns the NT government is not spending Commonwealth money where it is needed.

With more than 70 per cent of the NT government's revenue coming from the Commonwealth, Ms Gallagher travelled to Darwin today to take issue with how the funds were being distributed.

Ms Gallagher said she and Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy had initially organised to meet with Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who is now on leave, and instead met with Acting Chief Minister Gerard Maley.

"We made that appointment some two weeks ago and the reason behind that was we were certainly, from the Commonwealth's point of view, experiencing some concerns about how particular programs are being run."

Ms Gallagher pointed to areas such as disaster relief, domestic violence service provision and housing, where she believed the tough-on-crime NT government had dropped the ball.

The federal parliament heard last month that $330 million allocated under a Commonwealth housing agreement had not been spent, and the NT government was seeking to reduce its 10-year housing target from 2,700 to 1,800.

Ms Gallagher also said the federal government was concerned a lack of money hitting the ground was exacerbating social dysfunction, as the NT goes backwards on seven Closing the Gap targets — the worst performance of any jurisdiction.

A string of serious crime incidents have occurred in the territory this month, including one where two boys, aged eight and 11, allegedly held up two Darwin businesses at knifepoint while wearing balaclavas.

"The money that we are investing is to reach the outcome that we want, which is to provide better services and better supports in housing, in particular in relation to overcrowding, in domestic, family and sexual violence, to make sure the service system is able to cope with the level of violence that exists right across the country," Ms Gallagher said.

"So when we're seeing delays or reductions in the Northern Territory's own expenditure, that concerns us.

"That was why we wanted to put it on the table — we wanted to come up to the chief minister and say 'Look, these are all of our concerns, it's across a number of portfolios'."