The Northern Territory chief minister is ropeable with the federal government's response to the royal commission into its youth justice system.
Michael Gunner has warned the NT public service will not cooperate with a federal government's proposed audit into how commonwealth money is spent in the territory.
"We want to get on with fixing a broken youth justice system and we don't want to have another inquiry into the NT," Mr Gunner told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
"I will not take a single worker off the front line or offline or provide a single document."
The royal commission was set up after the ABC aired footage of boys being tear gassed, wearing spithoods and being shackled at the notorious Don Dale detention centre in Darwin.
Federal Labor was also disappointed with the Turnbull government's a lack of leadership in its response to the commission's commonwealth-specific findings.
"The government's response is hopelessly inadequate," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said, noting only two of 28 recommendations were supported, the rest were subject to further consultation or supported in principle.
He seized on the time of the response's release - at the end of a parliamentary sitting week.
"The protection and detention of Australian young people is a national issue and a national responsibility - and it deserves commonwealth leadership," he said.
The federal government committed itself to improved data collection, an audit of all federal funding going to the Northern Territory and more community engagement.
It rejected a recommendation from the commission to give juvenile detainees access to Medicare services and taxpayer subsidised medication.
Canberra argued the responsibility for prisoner health lies with state and territory governments and it was important to prevent services being funded twice from public resources.
Amnesty International dismissed the federal government's response as weak, saying it had failed indigenous kids around the country.
The NT government has agreed with the commission's recommendation to close down Darwin's notorious Don Dale Detention Centre.
It also recommended raising the age of criminal responsibility, ending long periods of isolation and restraints for child inmates and increasing rehabilitation and community programs rather than "tough on crime" solutions.
The final report of the $54 million royal comission was released in November.
