Former Family First senator Bob Day. Credit:David Mariuz The equivalent certificate IV in construction and building at TAFE costs just $3000 per student per year. Mr Day's college was handed the same sum at the same time as two industry bodies – Master Builders Australia and the National Electricians and Communications Association (NECA) – which have promised to benefit hundreds of apprentices across Australia with the grant. The grants were given under the Apprentice Training - Alternative Delivery Pilots scheme. NECA chief executive Suresh Manickam said the $1.84 million his group received would benefit up to 300 apprentices in categories including enhanced training, mentoring and attracting female and mature age apprentices.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham. Questions are being asked about the process that led to Mr Day's idea being rewarded with public money – nearly $500,000 more than he asked for – with both Labor and the Electrical Trades Union publicly claiming the money was tied to Mr Day's enduring support for the government's agenda while he was a senator. Documents obtained through freedom of information show Mr Day's 2015 pitch promised that the student builders program would "bring trade training into line with other forms of tertiary education such as nursing and teaching". But in essence the program was designed to shift the financial burden for apprentices from a builder to the publicly backed education sector. Under Mr Day's proposal, students at the North East Vocational would be forced to fork out tens of thousands of dollars in loans under the government's scandal-ridden VET-FEE HELP scheme. That would boost the school's budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of the grant authorised by former minister for vocational education and training Luke Hartsuyker, but initially negotiated by Simon Birmingham, the current Education Minister.

Documents also reveal that the school would continue to charge employers to hire their apprentices on top of the $1.8 million grant and the public subsidy through VET-FEE HELP. According to financial records lodged with the charities regulator, the annual income of North East Vocational, based in St Agnes, north Adelaide, was $1.59 million in 2015 and $1.64 million in 2014. Joanne Munn, the chief executive of the North East Development Agency, which runs the North East Vocational College, said she had not been able to contact all members of the college's board regarding the grant, but insisted "the board has nothing to hide". A spokesman for the Assistant Vocational Education and Skills Minister Karen Andrews said students taking part in the pilot had not been made to take out loans. "North East Vocational College is not, and never has been, an eligible VET FEE-HELP provider and students will not bear the cost of being trained under the alternative pilots," he said.

"Funding allocated to the three-year pilot will cover tuition fees and provide for NEVC to trial an institution-based construction training model that redefines participants as students rather than apprentices." The government's insistence that there is no further public support for the apprentices differs from a departmental briefing to Mr Hartsuyker in October 2015. It states that program participants would be "students rather than apprentices" and "have access to a range of government training and employment subsidies". "Through the pilot, participants will have access to loans and allowances in line with other tertiary students," the department noted. Electrical Trades Union national apprentice officer Mark Burgess believes a Senate inquiry into the selection of pilot programs should be held.

"At a time [when] there is a lot of shonky registered training organisations, to hand out nearly $2 million to a failed businessman while they are trying to pass the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner bill is deeply suspect," he said. Mr Day, whose re-election as a senator could be deemed invalid by the High Court in coming months over a separate financial matter, told Fairfax Media on Thursday: "I will not be making any further comment. I will let my 40-year history helping young people into apprenticeships speak for itself." Loading Mr Day's business Home Australia is now in liquidation owing $38 million and leaving 200 unbuilt houses. He has been criticised for channelling dividends from the company into Family First through direct donations and a loan of $1.47 million that he later forgave.