DriveSafe NT runs the Northern Territory learner stage. The knowledge test is 30 questions and you need 26 correct to pass, according to the Northern Territory Government's Get your driver licence page. You must hold the learner licence for six months continuously. The Territory does not use a logbook, and it publishes no practical pass rate.
It is the smallest licensing system in Australia by volume and the least documented publicly. That licence page and the government fee page now set out the question count, pass mark and fee in writing. Use those agency figures rather than a number copied from another practice site.
What does the Get your driver licence page state?
The Northern Territory Government's Get your driver licence page states that the theory test has 30 multiple choice questions about NT road rules, selected at random from a pool of more than 300. You must get at least 26 out of 30 correct to pass. You sit it at a Motor Vehicle Registry office when you submit a learner licence application. Territory Services hosts a free official practice test with no limit on attempts. The government page also links a driver knowledge questions PDF for learner drivers.
You must be at least 16, an MVR customer, and able to prove identity and NT residency. After you pass you sit an eyesight test at an MVR office, or you can bring a recent eye examination from a doctor or optometrist. The fees page lists the theory test at $20 and a learner licence at $29 for two years. DriveSafe NT participants do not pay the theory test fee, and they do not pay the first time they get a learner licence.
Learner conditions on the same licensing page are specific. You must have a zero blood alcohol concentration, you must not exceed 80 kilometres per hour, you must display L plates at the front and rear, and a fully licensed driver must sit in the front passenger seat at all times while you drive. DriveSafe NT's What am I going to learn page adds that a mobile phone cannot be within hand reach. The government's alcohol and drugs page marks learner and provisional licences at 0 per cent BAC.
What are the two ways onto Ls in the Territory?
There are two official paths onto a class C learner licence. You can study the NT Road Users' Handbook and sit the Driver Knowledge Test at an MVR office, or you can enrol in DriveSafe NT, a Northern Territory Government program for residents over 16. The Get your driver licence page names the urban program for Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine and Alice Springs. The DriveSafe homepage also lists Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek and remote communities. You cannot enrol online. You take identity documents, the enrolment form and the L1 application to an MVR office.
Enrolment is $110 on both the fees page and the DriveSafe homepage. The program covers course materials, theory classes, learner and provisional licence and test fees, e-vouchers toward lessons, two Practical Driving Assessment attempts, and a St John Ambulance NT online first aid course. DriveSafe states more than $600 in subsidies. A Department of Logistics and Infrastructure notice dated 5 November 2025 lists ten subsidised driving lessons. Theory One runs two nights of three hours, or six hours on a Saturday.
The independent sitting costs $20 plus $29, which is $49 before any instructor. The practical driving test page says non-DriveSafe candidates pay the examiner a fee that may differ by examiner. There is no single government figure for that sitting. DriveSafe says the assessment uses an assessor vehicle at the participant's cost, and that further attempts, extra lessons, car hire and the upgrade are not covered. E-vouchers are $50 each, one per week, valid 72 hours, and you pay anything above $50.
How long must you hold a Territory learner licence?
To sit the practical test you must have held the learner licence continuously for at least six months. DriveSafe NT states the same rule on its homepage and learn page. If the licence is suspended, disqualified, cancelled or expired, a practical test in that period is not valid, and you hold it for another six continuous months after it is reactivated. Renew from six weeks before expiry by passing the theory test again and paying the learner fee. If you reapply after expiry, the six months starts from reissue.
DriveSafe NT states that the Northern Territory does not use a log book system. The Get your driver licence page does not set a mandatory supervised hour total. It recommends about 20 or more hours to learn the controls, and another 80 hours to become a low-risk driver. That is a recommendation, not a signed log you must present. DriveSafe urban participants still mark off 23 practical driving competencies with an instructor before they can book the assessment. Those competencies are a program requirement, not a 120 hour logbook.
That absence is the fact interstate movers cannot find. New South Wales and Victoria require 120 supervised hours, Queensland requires 100, and Western Australia requires 50 including 5 at night, on each state agency's published rules. South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory hour rules are not verified here. A Northern Territory learner who later applies in New South Wales has no Territory logbook to hand over. Whether the destination state will credit the six month hold is not answered on the NT transfer page. Tasmania is the other system here that still leaves hours unpublished, as the Tasmanian licence process guide explains.
What do the other systems publish that the Territory does not?
The Territory still does not publish practical assessment outcomes the way New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia do, so this site carries no Northern Territory pass rate. None of the percentages on other practice sites can be traced to a Territory statistical release in the material checked for this guide. The knowledge test format is now on an official page. The practical pass rate is not. The driving test pass rate study keeps that absence visible on purpose.
New South Wales, from Transport for NSW: Driver Knowledge Test of 45 questions in two sections, 12 of 15 then 29 of 30, the full car question bank published, logbook 120 hours, driving test pass rate about 56 per cent statewide covering roughly 150 centres. Victoria: 32 questions at 78 per cent, logbook 120 hours, drive test pass rate 72.2 per cent across 492,504 tests from January 2024 to April 2026, released under freedom of information. The VicRoads Ls and Ps fees page lists $50.80 for the in-person knowledge test and appointment and $44.00 for an in-person hazard perception sitting, with the first online attempt at each free.
Queensland: PrepL about 4 to 6 hours, 30 questions, 27 of 30 which is 90 per cent, fee $29.70, logbook 100 hours, Q-SAFE about 61 per cent as Queensland Government open data by local government area. Western Australia: 30 questions, 24 of 30, $22.40 first sitting and $19.20 each resit, logbook 50 hours including 5 at night, Practical Driving Assessment 42.3 per cent across 244,557 assessments at 22 centres, freedom of information 2026-0140, Midland 28.3 per cent and Cannington 56.4 per cent. Western Australian hazard perception is $29.90 for the first sitting and $24.10 for each resit, according to the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure.
South Australia, from Service SA material: theory test in two parts, 8 give way questions with all 8 correct required, then 42 questions with 32 correct, fee $40, logbook not verified, no published practical pass rate. Tasmania: knowledge test free through Service Tasmania; question count, pass mark, hours and practical pass rate not confirmed here. Australian Capital Territory: 35 questions, 31 of 35 to pass, fee, hours and practical pass rate unpublished. The eight system comparison sets all of this side by side.
Tennant Creek example: what you can confirm this week
If you live in Tennant Creek and turn 16 on a Monday, the official pages already answer the basics. The Get your driver licence page confirms that you are old enough, that the test is 30 questions with 26 to pass, that the independent path costs $20 then $29, and that DriveSafe enrolment is $110. DriveSafe NT's homepage lists Tennant Creek as a service location. The remote residents page says a non-participant can complete the eyesight test, the theory test, the learner fee and the photo at a local police station.
What you cannot confirm from those pages is the date of the next practical test in town. The authorised examiner page lists Tennant Creek examiners and states they may only be available during planned visits. It tells you to contact the examiner to find out when they will next be in the region, and to discuss the vehicle. Nhulunbuy, Yulara and Jabiru carry the same planned visit warning. Darwin City, Casuarina and Palmerston do not. If you want a sitting this month, you have to ring DriveSafe NT on 1800 121 411.
If you enrol you pay $110, wait for a customer ID, and still cannot sit the Practical Driving Assessment before six months. DriveSafe's learn page says Drive 2, which adds a second set of five e-vouchers, is not relevant for remote area participants. If you sit independently you spend $49 in government fees, practise with any fully licensed Australian driver in the front passenger seat, and wait the same six months. The government recommends about 20 hours on the controls and another 80 as a low-risk driver.
The test takes about 40 minutes, with the examiner in the front passenger seat and a camera recording the road and the people inside, held for up to 6 months. Immediate fails include missing a give way, exceeding the speed limit, and forcing the examiner to intervene. No Northern Territory page checked for this guide publishes a Tennant Creek pass rate or a standard examiner fee. The money you can write down today is $110 for DriveSafe, or $49 plus an unknown examiner fee and a $61 provisional licence if you are under 25 and pay your own way. The Northern Territory hub keeps those figures in one place.
Road trains, distance, and conditions a Melbourne learner has never sat in
The Northern Territory presents driving conditions that no other jurisdiction presents at the same scale: very long distances between towns, unsealed roads well outside remote areas, wildlife and livestock on carriageways, road trains, and wet season flooding that closes roads for extended periods. Fatigue on long drives is a first order risk rather than a footnote. None of that is a substitute for knowing the road rules, and it may or may not feature heavily in the knowledge test itself. It is the part of Territory driving that a learner who arrives from another state genuinely has to learn.
The government's Driving with road trains page is the local briefing a Melbourne or Sydney learner will not have read. Road trains and other heavy vehicles need more space and take longer to stop. At 80 km/h the page lists a car stopping distance of 110 metres and a truck stopping distance of 133 metres. At 100 km/h those figures are 157 metres and 194 metres. On a single lane highway you are told to slow down, pull off, and drive slowly on the shoulder when an oncoming road train approaches.
A supervising driver who only ever practised in inner Darwin still has to cover night, rain, and unsealed work if that is the driving you will actually do. The remote residents page says you should get as much practice as possible in different conditions, including day, night and rain. Australian road rules are substantially harmonised, so give way, speed zones, line markings and signage transfer. The differences that catch people here are the test format, the fees, and the vehicles on the highway.
What if you move into or out of the Territory?
If you move into the Northern Territory you must transfer an interstate driver licence within 3 months of living here, according to the government's interstate transfer page. There is no fee to transfer a current interstate licence. If you need to renew, you pay the NT fee. Conditions on the interstate licence transfer across, and MVR may confirm those conditions and your driving history with the issuing state. The page does not say whether New South Wales logbook hours, or time already held on Ls, will shorten the Territory's six month hold. Ask MVR and keep a written note of the answer, including the date.
If you move out, after you have been issued an interstate licence your NT driver licence is no longer valid, and you cannot claim a refund for unexpired time. A Territory learner arriving in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland enters systems that require 120, 120 and 100 hours respectively. Whether those states will credit the six month hold is a question for the destination agency. DriveSafe will backdate a new learner licence if you already hold NT Ls and then enrol. That does not convert Territory competencies into New South Wales hours. The NT history search fee is $25.
How do you check a Northern Territory number?
Start with the Northern Territory Government Get your driver licence page and the DriveSafe NT homepage, not with a practice site summary. Take the format, the fee and the eligibility rules from there. In a jurisdiction this thinly covered by third parties, the official source is close to the only reliable option available to you. Use general Australian road rule practice for the content and the official Territory material for the specifics and the format. When you book, ask what this examiner charges for a class C practical, including car hire, and when the next sitting is in this town, then write the answers with the date.
Common questions
- Question
- How many questions is the NT knowledge test?
- It has 30 multiple choice questions drawn from a pool of more than 300, and you sit it at an MVR office, according to the Northern Territory Government's Get your driver licence page. This guide prints 30 because that official page says so, not because other practice sites do. For preparation, Territory Services hosts a free official practice test.
- Question
- What is the DriveSafe NT pass mark?
- You must get at least 26 out of 30 correct, according to the Get your driver licence page. Other sites have circulated 26 of 30 without naming that page. This site treats the government page as sourced.
- Question
- Does the Northern Territory have a logbook?
- No. DriveSafe NT says the Territory does not use a log book system, so there is no signed hour total to present. The government licensing page instead recommends about 20 hours on the controls and another 80 hours to become a low-risk driver. Urban DriveSafe participants have a separate program requirement: 23 practical competencies signed off with an instructor.
- Question
- How long do I need to be on my Ls in the NT?
- Six months continuously. The Get your driver licence page, the remote residents page and DriveSafe NT all state the same hold. Let the licence expire and the six months starts again from reissue, so renew early: you can do that from six weeks before expiry by passing the theory test again.
- Question
- How much is a Northern Territory learner licence?
- The theory test is $20 and the learner licence is $29 for two years, on the Northern Territory Government fees page. DriveSafe enrolment is $110 and includes those fees for participants. A provisional licence is $61 for two years if you are under 25, or $40 for one year if you are 25 or over.
- Question
- Can I transfer my NSW hours to the NT?
- The interstate transfer page requires a transfer within 3 months, charges no fee for a current interstate licence, and transfers conditions. It does not say that 120 New South Wales hours count against the Territory's six month hold. Ask MVR in writing. Do not assume a logbook from another state shortens the Territory rule.
- Question
- Is there a free NT practice test?
- Yes. Territory Services hosts the official driver and rider knowledge practice test, free, with no limit on attempts. You give a name, leave Group blank, and select option 1 for the car test or option 2 for the motorcycle test. The Get your driver licence page also links a driver knowledge questions PDF.
Sources
- Northern Territory Government, get your driver licenceChecked
- Northern Territory Government, driver and rider licence feesChecked
- Territory Services, practice your driver or rider knowledge testChecked
- DriveSafe NT homepageChecked
- DriveSafe NT, what am I going to learnChecked
- Northern Territory Government, driver licences for remote residentsChecked
- Northern Territory Government, take a practical driving test with an authorised driving examinerChecked
- Northern Territory Government, transfer your interstate driver licenceChecked
- Northern Territory Government, driving with road trainsChecked
- Northern Territory Government, alcohol, drugs and drivingChecked
- Department of Logistics and Infrastructure, DriveSafe NT Safe Driver Program notice, 5 November 2025Checked
- VicRoads: Ls and Ps feesChecked
- Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure: Sit a Hazard Perception TestChecked