Internship scheme passes lower house

The coalition government's new internship scheme to help get young people off welfare and into work has cleared parliament's lower house.

A federal government plan to hand young unemployed people an extra $200 to take up an internship has cleared the first hurdle of parliament.

The coalition's proposed youth welfare-to-work scheme, announced in the May budget, passed the lower house on Wednesday.

The government believes the program will help Australians under 25 get a job, but Labor is concerned big businesses could use it to get "cut-price" labour and that there are not enough safeguards in place.