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An uptick in guns, rugs and tech is changing Sydney’s gangland.

Contract criminals with no links to their victims are hired online. Innocent people are being killed

Sydney’s underworld is importing more drugs and guns than ever and it is also becoming more tech-savvy.

  • Sally Rawsthorne

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This GIF of Stephen Colbert was posted in a chat for cosmetic injectables workers.

Inside the Botox black market: Leaked messages reveal ‘illegal’ trading network

A trove of internal communications shows nurses with links to a major telehealth company were buying and selling prescription-only drugs, while staff joked about liability.

  • Clay Lucas and Henrietta Cook
Dr Andrew Barraclough, a structural engineering business owner whose qualifications were stolen and used by a fraudster on Airtasker to sign off on a number of structures.

The ‘white-out’ job that let a stranger steal Andrew’s engineering qualification

An investigation by this masthead has uncovered a nationwide scam on a platform used by thousands of Australians, exposing a loophole that allows for illegal and potentially unsafe engineering designs.

  • Sally Rawsthorne
Owner of Minas Barbery Simone Minas, paid $280 to have an Airtasker to wait in line for pistachio Papi’s pastries.

How much would you pay to avoid a queue? For Simone that was $300

A growing number of Sydneysiders are paying gig workers to line up for them to score an Instagram famous pastry or be first in line for a rental.

  • Amber Schultz
Guilherme Coracini is a ‘tasker’ on Airtasker doing paid handyman jobs, including assembling furniture. Story is about the tasks people post on Airtasker, how much they pay and whether gig economy is good or bad for workers. 20th Oct 2022. Photo: Edwina Pickles / SMH SHD: Larry Adams is a signwriter but he supplements his income by doing Airtasker jobs such as putting out people’s rubbish, removing waste, cleaning up attics. 21st October 2022, Photo: Wolter Peeters, The Sun Herald. Composite

$173 to assemble furniture: Why AirTasker prices are skyrocketing for simple jobs

Time-poor people are offering up to $400 for tasks such as decorating a kid’s birthday party, removing a spider, standing in queues and taking out rubbish bins, amid surging prices for gig economy jobs.

  • Andrew Taylor
Sydney Passport Office queues were moving very slowly on Thursday.

$150 to queue for hours: Australians pay cash to avoid passport lines

Desperate Australians are turning to online marketplaces to avoid lengthy passport queues.

  • Jessica Yun
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Tim Fung on Airtasker: “The best move was looking for investors who wanted to have an impact on the world, as opposed to worrying about the money, and developing a rapport with them.”

‘It wasn’t very consultative!’ Airtasker CEO Tim Fung’s big mistake

The businessman discusses errors made in scaling up Airtasker, opportunities for job creation in Australia, and the deaths that changed how he approaches life.

  • Benjamin Law
Airtasker chief executive Tim Fung wants to implement vaccination badges on the platform.

Airtasker wants access to users’ vaccination status to push through pandemic

Gig economy startup Airtasker is keen to introduce COVID jab badges for people dealing with each other through its platform, and wants to know from the government who is vaccinated.

  • Cara Waters
Josh Frydenberg’s children, Gemma and Blake, with mum Amie during the Budget speech.

New partner in the Frydenberg family

The wife of the Treasurer is celebrating a major work promotion.

  • Stephen Brook and Samantha Hutchinson
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were among the early backers of Airtasker’s US acquisition Zaarly.

Airtasker bets on acquisition that failed Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore

Gig economy start-up Airtasker is betting that its US expansion plans can succeed with the acquisition of a startup that failed celebrity backers like Ashton Kutcher.

  • Colin Kruger