Malcolm Turnbull says his government's controversial internship program is life-changing and Labor should be shamed for trying to deny young people that opportunity.
Despite bureaucrats who helped design the scheme insisting dodgy businesses will be blocked from signing up, the opposition claims the "unfair" scheme won't add one job to the workforce, will exploit youth and displace workers.
The prime minister issued a strong defence of the budget measure on Friday, arguing it was about giving vulnerable youth a go.
"You will change a life," he told reporters in Sydney.
"Labor ... are standing in the way of young people with poor prospects transforming their lives for the better, and they should be ashamed."
The government will hand $1000 to any business such as a newsagent or supermarket that hires a young jobseeker who has been out of work for more than five months.
But it's led to concerns employers could exploit the program and either fire existing workers to hire the cheaper labour, or churn through interns to get their hands on more cash.
Labor says telling young people to seek internships at supermarkets wouldn't exactly empower them.
Taxpayers would be paying firms which could exploit the program by taking on interns instead of employees, opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said.
But Department of Employment officials insist the scheme will contain safeguards.
Businesses must sign an agreement promising they haven't fired any workers to create the intern positions, and workers who suspect they've been fired to make way for an intern can call a tip-off line.
Suspect businesses will be monitored to check on their hiring practices.
"If an employer does that (churn) they'll be blocked from the program," department secretary Renee Leon told a Senate committee in Canberra.
Employers had to also promise there was a reasonable prospect of a job before they hired an intern.
"We will not permit jobseekers to be placed into internships if there is evidence that an employer is misusing the process and that interns aren't ending up with employment on a regular basis," deputy secretary Martin Hehir said.
The merits of unpaid internships also came to a head at the hearing after Labor and the Greens were accused of hypocrisy in accepting political interns.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds produced a list of opposition politicians who have offered unpaid parliamentary internships.
"I'm struggling to see why if it's good enough for us politicians ... how any of my colleagues who do this would argue to deny that opportunity for 100,000 young people who have never had a job," she said.
WHAT IS THE YOUTH PaTH PROGRAM?
* Under 25 year-olds on welfare for five months forced to participate in pre-employment training for six weeks.
* They'll then get an extra $100 a week on top of $263 Newstart weekly allowance if they voluntarily intern for 15 to 25 hours per week.
* Employers will get up to $1,000 for the internship and $10,000 if they hire worker.
