The Australian Hotel Association (AHA) says allowing bouncers to intervene in street fights could make for a safer nightlife.

Currently, bouncers are unable to step into fights on the street, but the AHA NT division says their powers should be reviewed.

The call was made as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the use of the drug ice, targeting ways of reducing violence at entertainment venues.

AHA NT chief Des Crowe says there has been a rise in the intensity of fights around venues in Darwin, and they are spilling out into the daytime.

He believes bouncers could help keep the peace.

“We've had some assault matters that have been thrown out because they were not exercising their powers as a crowd controller,” he told the ABC.

“Crowd controllers are at the moment very much kept in their own licensed premises.

“The street thoroughfare becomes a big grey area.”

On its visit to the Northern Territory, the inquiry was also told about the level of ice use in the transport sector.

Industry reps said that because NT trucking was a fairly small industry, ice users would stand out more and be less likely to be hired.

“The nature of the business in the Northern Territory makes it far less likely that people who have serious ice addictions will be able to retain work in our industry,” NT Road Transport Association executive officer Louise Bilato told the inquiry.

“People essentially self-select and are selected out as soon as someone is volatile or moody or difficult.”

Ms Bilato said current regulations were helping, particularly in the case of two road transport operators who reported that they had employed ice users.

“They quickly did something about that because both of those companies were in accredited heavy vehicle schemes which required them to implement their drug and alcohol policies,” she said.