The community needs to disengage with alcohol, re-engage with employment and the best way forward is with co-operation between all levels of government, he's revealed on a visit to the regional Northern Territory town with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

"When you have very large numbers of people without jobs here, disconnected from employment and independence ... if you can't get rid of poverty many of these other issues are going to continue to affect us," he told ABC.

"This is an area where (if) all levels of government do more work together, we are going to see real changes on the ground."

Mr Turnbull has also highlighted an arrangement similar to those in Townsville, Geelong and Western Sydney, where federal, territory and local government would consult with indigenous and cultural groups on housing, economic growth, health and education priorities.

He's nominated public housing shortages as the biggest issue in the remote town which is in the midst of a child protection crisis after the rape of a two-year-old girl in February.

"The lack of housing is the biggest single issue that has been described in every encounter," he said at a dinner on Sunday night.

The NT government has committed to building nine public houses in Tennant Creek in the next 12 months.

But Barkly Regional Council Mayor Steve Edgington, who welcomed regional plan talks after pushing for the concept, said that won't go far with four-to-six year waiting lists for a three-bedroom house.

"We can't guarantee a child's safety when there's a number of visitors and people coming in from outside Tennant Creek staying at those houses," Mr Edgington told AAP.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan agreed more houses were needed.

"But if we just throw money at new housing, and then that housing isn't in a state in five years time that it can be used, we haven't solved anything," he told ABC radio on Monday.

"These are all things that we are in discussion with the NT government on, because the PM is right that housing is a key."

Mr Turnbull will on Monday meet with police to discuss Operation Haven, which is aimed at reducing family violence and alcohol abuse.

Last month it was revealed the NT government had removed 15 children from their families around the town, when it was deemed unsafe.

The prime minister ended Sunday in the town by visiting children playing sport and dancing in a disco at a community centre after riding with the Youth Night Patrol, which helps get kids on the streets home safely.

Australian Associated Press