A Northern Territory senator has stressed more work was needed to address issues in Indigenous communities ahead of the return of alcohol bans.
The territory government will introduce laws next week reinstating bans in Indigenous communities in an effort to address alcohol-fuelled violence.
The bans follow growing crime levels in Alice Springs, which prompted the federal government to provide $250 million in support.
Assistant Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said while communities would be able to opt out of the alcohol bans if more than 60 per cent support it, it would take time before that occurred.
"We've got a tremendous amount of work to do before we even get to that point," she told ABC Radio on Friday.
"I'm not keen on getting to that point right now. I think that right now we have to just stabilise the situation."
Senator McCarthy was meeting with community leaders in Alice Springs on Friday, along with Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, to discuss crime and alcohol issues.
The NT senator said residents in communities were keen on moving forward.
"What I do feel from all the people that I've spoken to, whether it's in person or on the phone from Canberra, is that they want to get to the other side of this," she said.
"So I do get a sense that whilst we've seen really horrid stuff over the past month or more, I do feel there is a sense of fatigue over them and people want hope for the future."
The reintroduction of alcohol bans follows a report by Northern Territory Regional Controller Dorelle Anderson.
The report also called for the needs-based funding from the government in order to address issues in the community, which Senator McCarthy would be examined in the long term.
"We can look at needs-based funding going into the future, but right about now ... it really is about stabilising and settling issues in Alice Springs itself, but also those regional communities," she said.
