The Spectator Australia has seen a copy of the Defence Department’s un-redacted Defence Assistance to the Civil Community manual which is being used to guide the use of the military during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The manual obtained, unlike publicly available versions, gives detail of how the military are meant to be used.

The document is critical as there is no legislation supporting these operations.

It suggests the ADF are operating in a grey area of the law without legislative and constitutional support and in potential breach of their own guidelines that deal with the way they interact with civil authorities during the covid-19...