The cost of non-perishable items in outback communities has been labelled "outrageous," as the government looks to implement a price levelling policy in remote areas of Australia.

The government's announcement on Monday that 30 essential items in 76 remote community stores across Australia will be the same price as in cities, and that warehouse capacity will be boosted to make remote community supply chains less vulnerable.

The announcement comes on the 18th year of Closing the Gap, with 2024 data revealing only five targets are on track.

Speaking before the official government announcements in Canberra on Monday, Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said the products would feature "core-essential" items put together by the Food Security Working Group.

"We looked at items like flour, like milk, tinned tuna, rice, spreads, cereal, canned meals, to fresh fruit; apples, oranges, bananas, to toiletries with toilet rolls, nappies, baby formula," Senator McCarthy told ABC RN.

Asked why the price caps, Senator McCarthy argued the policy was "more about reducing the extra cost in remote and regional Australia".

"It's largely due to food supply chain, you would have seen…currently with flooding, with extreme temperatures, we see roads cut off, we see bridges collapse," Senator McCarthy said.

"There are usually lots of issues that create difficulties for those food supplies to get into our communities across the country."

The federal opposition labelled last week's $842.6 million pledge over six years to the Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment to fund services like policing, women's safety, education and alcohol harm reduction as lazy and irresponsible.

In response, Senator McCarthy said it's "always disappointing to hear the criticism from the Coalition" when they themselves haven't costed a plan of Indigenous Australians other than cost cutting.

"Cutting public services, cutting Aboriginal organisations," she said.

"I would encourage them to recognise that this is a bipartisan support across not only the federal parliament but also every state and territory jurisdiction."

Speaking on ABC breakfast, Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle said the cost-of-living "crisis" had been exacerbated by the government, and solutions to help those on the ground were needed.

Identifying several closing the gap measures which have failed to improve, she argued: "We've seen the cashless debit card (CDC) taken away, we've seen alcohol restrictions lifted in the Northern Territory, we've seen people trying to deal with this horrible cost-of-living crisis, so it should be of no surprise to anyone that the close the gap has gone backwards."

Asked about the government announcement for price parity in remote communities, Senator Liddle said whilst funding was "welcome news," it was part of an ongoing funding initiative since 2016 and refused to confirm if a Coalition government would match the policy.

"What we don't have…[is] how much of that is for the new initiatives…we need to see the details," she said.

"I have done the pricing when I am in those remote communities; it is outrageous that non-perishable items…are several dollars more in a remote community than they are in a surrounding community…that is not acceptable.

"We need to ask what is happening in these organisations that run these stores and I say, 'one of the problems is we haven't tackled governance'. We need people on those boards that are not just community members; we need people on these boards that understand about retail; that can take on these CEOs."

When pressed on the rising number of Aboriginal inmates across the country and closing the gap metrics going backwards, Senator Liddle said there were bigger issues at play.

"We are not seeing anywhere near the numbers of children that are in school that should be in school and not on the streets," she said.

"Sure, we see more people in custody, but you know what, there were 66,000 hospitalisations in Alice Springs, a town of 29,000 people, the year the Albanese government stood by and watched those alcohol restrictions lifted.

"Many of the people in custody in the NT are there for violent-related crimes, fuelled by alcohol, drugs and gambling…when you start addressing those tough issues, you'll start addressing the number of people going into custody."