Drink Driving Penalties in the Northern Territory: Ranges, Fines, Licence Loss and the Interlock

By James Stevens, Director and Solicitor, Go To Court Lawyers. Last reviewed 20 April 2026.

In the Northern Territory, a first mid-range drink-driving offence, a reading from 0.08 to under 0.15, carries a fine of up to $1,455 or up to 6 months' jail and an automatic licence cancellation for at least 6 months, which the court can lengthen but not reduce.

Checked on 22 October 2026 against the Traffic Act 1987 (as in force from 10 February 2026), the Traffic Regulations 1999, the Motor Vehicles Act 1949 and its regulations, the Sentencing Act 1995, the Fines and Penalties (Recovery) Act 2001 and the Alcohol Harm Reduction Act 2017. This page is based on the legislation itself.

The limit and the ranges

Driving under the influence is a separate offence, and a court can find it even at a reading below 0.05.

Court penalties

Fines in the Territory are set in penalty units. The dollar figures on this page use $194 a unit, the value for offences committed from 1 July 2026. For an offence committed between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 the unit was $189, so the maximums are $945, $1,417.50, $1,890 and $3,780 instead of $970, $1,455, $1,940 and $3,880.

• These are maximums. No drink-driving offence in the Territory has a minimum fine or compulsory jail.
• Where a minimum disqualification applies, your licence is cancelled automatically when you are found guilty. The court can make the disqualification longer, but there is no power to make it shorter, and there is no maximum.
• At least 5 years off the road, with no interlock period, for a high-range offence or a refusal committed within 3 years of an earlier high-range offence, refusal or failure to pull over, and in some cases where there are two or more earlier offences.
• Demerit points: 6, but only for low-range offences and the zero-alcohol offences by heavy, dangerous-goods and commercial passenger vehicle drivers, driving instructors and drivers under 25 with less than 3 years' licence.
• Heavy and commercial passenger vehicles: if you were driving a vehicle over 15 tonnes or a commercial passenger vehicle, there is an extra 5-year bar on licences for those vehicles.
• P-platers: the provisional (P-plate) period can be extended by 3 to 12 months.

The $400 notice (low range only)

• Only for low range (0.05 to under 0.08) and for the zero-alcohol offences by heavy, dangerous-goods and commercial passenger vehicle drivers, driving instructors and drivers under 25 with less than 3 years' licence. Everyone else, including learners, P-platers, drivers under 18 and unlicensed drivers, goes to court.
• The notice: $400 and 6 demerit points. Police may give you a notice, or charge you instead. You have 28 days to pay; paying ends the matter, but the points still apply.
• No suspension or disqualification comes with the notice itself. But for some visiting drivers, whose limit is 5 points in 12 months, 6 points brings a 3-month suspension. A full licence holder's limit is 12 points in 3 years.
• A paid notice counts as an earlier low-range offence for 3 years.
• Electing court: you can give the agency named on the notice a written statement that you want the matter dealt with in court; if you were sent a courtesy letter, do it before the letter's due date. In court, a first low-range offence carries up to $970 or 3 months' jail, with no automatic disqualification, though the court may still disqualify you.

Immediate licence suspension

• Police may suspend your licence on the spot when they charge you with an "immediate suspension offence": every high-range offence, every refusal and every failure to pull over for a test. A mid-range, low-range, zero-alcohol or under-the-influence offence is one only if it is your second or later.
• How long: until the court deals with the charge, or police withdraw or revoke the notice. The time comes off your disqualification.
• Challenging it: an appeal to the Local Court, with 14 days' written notice to the Registrar and the court setting out exceptional circumstances. The court can set the suspension aside only if it is satisfied there are exceptional circumstances, and its decision is final.
• Driving while suspended carries up to 12 months' jail.

The alcohol ignition lock (interlock)

• Only after a second or later offence: mid range, high range, driving under the influence of alcohol, a refusal, or a zero-alcohol offence by a learner, P-plater, driver under 18 or driver under 25 with less than 3 years' licence. A first offence never brings an interlock, and nor does any low-range offence.
• How it works: after the minimum disqualification, the court sets an interlock period of 12 months to 3 years (6 months to 3 years for the zero-alcohol groups), during which the only licence you can hold is an interlock licence. There is no interlock period when the minimum disqualification is 5 years or more.
• You do not have to fit one, but if you don't, you cannot drive at all until the interlock period ends.
• The licence: the Registrar may grant an interlock licence if you held a licence other than a learner licence in the previous 5 years. It ends with the interlock period, cannot be renewed, is extended by any suspension, and does not cover commercial passenger vehicles.
• The device stops the car starting unless your breath is under 0.02 (zero for the zero-alcohol groups).
• Offences: driving a car without the device, or with a device you know is faulty or disengaged, carries up to 12 months' jail, and you lose the interlock licence for the rest of the period. Breaching a condition carries up to $3,880.
• Cost: the legislation sets no fee. The Motor Vehicle Registry's form L7 offers a subsidy to Territory applicants with a Health Care Card, or a Centrelink statement showing the maximum rate of pension.

No work licence

The Northern Territory has no work, restricted or hardship licence for a drink-driving disqualification. The only early route is through a community correction order or intensive community correction order that requires a driving program: if your unexpired disqualifications total less than 5 years, the court may allow supervised practice driving during the program. Once the order ends and the program is completed, the court may end your disqualifications (but not an interlock-only period), weighing how serious the offence was, safety and your need to drive for work.

Refusing a test

• Refusing a breath analysis or a blood test, or not pulling over for a breath test, carries the high-range penalties: up to $1,940 or 12 months' jail and at least 12 months off the road for a first offence. Police may suspend your licence on the spot for any refusal.
• You are taken to have refused if anything you do prevents the analysis.
• The defences are a medical reason or other reasonable grounds. Drinking after you stopped driving is not a defence.
• Refusing a blood test in hospital when your injuries were not from a crash in which you were driving is a minor offence: up to $194, with no jail and no licence cancellation.

How the test is done

• The law sets a 4-hour window for the breath or blood test.
• You can ask for a second analysis, and the lower reading is used.
• The rules for a breath analysis require that you had no alcohol in the 15 minutes before it.

How earlier offences are counted

• No time limit for an earlier high-range, mid-range, under-the-influence, refusal, failure to pull over, or zero-alcohol offence by a learner, P-plater or driver under 18: it counts however long ago it was.
• An earlier low-range offence counts only if it was within the previous 3 years, and it never makes a mid-range, high-range, under-the-influence or refusal charge a second offence.
• Also counted: a paid $400 notice (for 3 years), an interstate finding at 0.08 or more, and a finding of guilt without a conviction.

No conviction recorded

The Sentencing Act 1995 lets a court deal with an offence without recording a conviction, weighing your character, history, age and health, how trivial the offence was and any extenuating circumstances. Under the Traffic Act the minimum disqualification follows a finding of guilt, so it still applies when no conviction is recorded, and the finding still counts as an earlier offence if you reoffend. A finding without a conviction is spent straight away, or when the court's order ends.

Banned drinker orders

Banned drinker order: police must make one when an adult is charged with, or summonsed or given a notice to appear for, an alcohol-related offence, which the Alcohol Harm Reduction Act 2017 defines to include an immediate suspension offence that involves alcohol, such as a high-range charge. A first order lasts 3 months, then 6, then 12, and bans you from buying, possessing or consuming alcohol.

Getting your licence back, and other consequences

• Reapplying: when the disqualification ends you apply for a new licence. After a first mid-range or under-the-influence offence you must complete an approved course. After a repeat mid-range or under-the-influence offence, a first high-range offence or a first breath-test refusal, the Registrar may require a course, treatment or both. After a repeat high-range offence within 3 years, or a repeat refusal, you need the Local Court's approval. If your P licence was cancelled, the new licence is provisional too.
• Driving while disqualified carries up to 12 months' jail, and the court may disqualify you for a further period.
• Appeal: to the Supreme Court within 28 days; the time can be extended to up to 3 months in some cases.
• Spent convictions: a conviction is spent automatically after 10 years without a further conviction for an offence that can bring jail (5 years for a Youth Justice Court conviction), but never if the sentence was more than 6 months' jail, even suspended.

More on what happens after a drink-driving charge, a first offence, mid range and high range in the Northern Territory, and the full drink driving penalties.

Free legal help in the Northern Territory

• Legal Aid NT's helpline on 1800 019 343, Monday to Friday, 8am to 4:30pm.
• The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) on 1800 898 251, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

How Go To Court Lawyers can help

Our free line, 1800 577 015, answers at any hour. Jen, our AI legal information assistant, gives general legal information and takes your details; Jen is not a lawyer and does not give advice about your case. A 60-minute consultation with a lawyer who practises in the Northern Territory is a fixed $295, by phone, video or in person. The lawyer can check whether the reading and the charge can be proved, advise whether to pay a notice or go to court, challenge an immediate suspension where there are exceptional circumstances, and address the penalty within the law's limits. Requests are taken at any hour; how soon a lawyer can see you depends on who is available. Request a $295 consultation with a Northern Territory lawyer.

General information only, not legal advice. Updated 22 October 2026. Checked against the Traffic Act 1987 (NT, as in force from 10 February 2026), the Traffic Regulations 1999, the Motor Vehicles Act 1949 and Motor Vehicles Regulations 1977, the Sentencing Act 1995, the Fines and Penalties (Recovery) Act 2001, the Alcohol Harm Reduction Act 2017, the Spent Convictions Act, the Local Court (Criminal Procedure) Act and the Penalty Units Regulations 2010 (penalty unit $194 from 1 July 2026), on 22 October 2026.