The Northern Territory chief minister says he'll embrace "once in a generation" reforms to combat alcohol abuse following a sweeping review of liquor laws.
Drinking limits for boaters, a booze floor price and annual licence fees are among 220 recommendations handed down on Thursday by former NT chief justice Trevor Riley.
The independent review calls for the phase-out of small grocery stores selling alcohol, while the government has expanded a moratorium on all takeaway liquor licences to include greenfield sites.
A Sunday takeaway sales ban is the only recommendation the government has not accepted.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner says alcohol-related harm costs Territory taxpayers about $640 million a year and decades of successive governments tinkering with the Liquor Act has not worked.
"We've got to burn it to the ground and start again," he said.
Labor fully supports a number of proposed measures in the review, including penalties for skippers who operate vessels while intoxicated.
It has also endorsed a minimum $1.50 price per standard drink to prevent the sale of heavily discounted booze, which Mr Riley says is sometimes "cheaper than water" and which Australian Hotels Association NT has also flagged support for.
However, Mr Gunner said if the commonwealth were to introduce its own volumetric tax, the NT would adopt that instead.
Labor is set to scrap its controversial 400-square-metre retail floor size restriction following criticism it had regulated chain Dan Murphy's out of the market.
Dan Murphy's will now move ahead with a licence application, which will need to be considered by a reinstated independent Liquor Commission and satisfy a public interest and community impact test.
And therapeutic courts which focus on diversion and treatment could also be reintroduced under the changes.
Submissions for the legal drinking age to be raised to 21 were ignored, as were calls for a ban on political donations from the alcohol industry.
The government expects the reforms will take at least 12 months to implement, with the Liquor Commission to be in place by the March parliament sittings.
The opposition has indicated bipartisan support and Health Minister Natasha Fyles says she's contacted stakeholders including health professionals and the powerful alcohol lobby.
But she stressed Labor is not concerned with being popular.
"The Northern Territory sadly has the highest rates of consumption of alcohol in Australia and the world," Ms Fyles said.
"We need to do things differently."
