Privacy campaigners have accused the Liberal Party of an "appalling" sleight of hand for using what looks deceptively like an official government website to harvest people's personal information.

The Australian Privacy Foundation's David Vaile says the website, which spruiks the government's $840 million PaTH to Jobs internship program, appears to be deliberately misleading.

"An appalling approach to abusing the trust of gullible internet users," David Vaile says. Credit:Alan Brandt

It asks employers and jobseekers to register their interest in the program by submitting their personal details. But it's only in the well-hidden fine print that it makes it clear it is a party website rather than a government one.

The Coalition scheme is designed to encourage under-25s into jobs by giving them a $200-a-fortnight top-up over and above the dole to work 25 hours a week. It is a central plank of the government's jobs and growth agenda but it has drawn heavy fire from the unions, which have described it as a $4-an-hour "worker exploitation scheme".