The PM has all but ruled out Commonwealth support for the Northern Territory’s severe budget issues.

Late last year, NT Treasurer Nicole Manison announced that the Territory had been borrowing to cover day-to-day expenses such as public servants' wages, with net debt on track to balloon to $35.7 billion by 2030.

Ms Manison has since met with federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg and his Labor counterpart Chris Bowen to talk about possible assistance.

But now, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the Territory should do its own “heavy lifting”.

“We've already stumped up a billion dollars and more as a Commonwealth Government into the Territory, just in my time as Treasurer and PM,” he said.

“I'm not interested in trying to cover up for mismanagement of finances by Labor governments.”

NT’s Labor chief minister Michael Gunner did not make any public appearances with the PM during his visit, but told reporters that Mr Morrison's comments were “cheap shots to hide their policy failure”.

“The Commonwealth Government's ... failure to provide a single cent to fund the recommendations of the Royal Commission they called, and their disastrous CDP policy have all placed further strain on the NT budget,” Mr Gunner said.

The Chief Minister is expected to closely tail Labor leader Bill Shorten during Mr Shorten’s trip to the NT this week.