The Defence Department will accelerate planned works across its vast estate holdings to help soften the impact of the coronavirus downturn.
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Around $870 million worth of estate project works will hit the federal government's contracting portal Austender over the next eight months, the department told a parliamentary inquiry on the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Defence had redirected $100 million into the estate works and upkeep programs from February to June. An extra $100 million will also be rolled out to engage small-to-medium-sized enterprises to carry out work.
It is part of the whole-of-government response to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 2000 defence personnel have been deployed to help with the national effort.
Over 200 Australian Public Service personnel were seconded to Services Australia to assist the agency to cope with the increase in demand for its services following mass job losses over the past two months.
More than 440 personnel were sent to help states and territories enforce isolation requirements for return travellers while another 250 were sent to support border closures with Western Australian, Queensland and Northern Territory Police.
Another 150 were sent to help with the repatriation efforts, 90 have assisted with contract tracing, while more than 60 personnel were embedded as planning and liaison officers in federal, state and territory agencies.
Defence has also moved recruiting online, with more than 2000 people joining the ADF since December.
Meanwhile the Australian Signals Directorate has also used its "offensive cyber capabilities to disrupt foreign cyber-criminals responsible for COVID-19 themed malicious cyber activities".
"[The agency] has disrupted the activities of foreign criminals by disabling their infrastructure and blocking their access to stolen information," the department said.
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Last month, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds revealed some of these cyber-criminals have even posed as health officials to exploit Australians, by infecting their computers with malware and stealing their private information.
The Signals Directorate had also given cyber-security advice to hospitals and healthcare providers across Australia, including sharing threat information and technical support.
