At 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning, a recently wedded local councillor wrote a 17-year-old girl a suggestive Instagram post about her bikini images, initiating a probe that cost taxpayers about $12,000.
According to a formal investigation, the teen received an “inappropriate” Instagram message from Burnside Council member Julian Carbone in November.
After the young woman shared many images on social media, Cr. Carbone responded, “Lots of bikini photos, but it’s so damn cold at the moment, hey.”
A month later, the 17-year-old sent the council an official email of complaint, which sparked an investigation into whether Mr. Carbone had violated the council’s code of conduct.
The 17-year-old claimed in an email to the Burnside Council that she was browsing through her messages when she saw one from “@juliancarboneburnsidecouncil.”
She reportedly wrote, “As a 17-year-old girl I am really concerned about this.”
Later, she clarified that it was improper coming from a prominent figure. Later, the teenager claimed that the politician had a disturbing amount of underage girls as followers on his Instagram account.
The 17-year-old said she believed ‘community trust and confidence would be significantly eroded in the knowledge of a council member who communicates with minors on Instagram in relation to photos of them in bikinis.’
The Council forwarded the allegation to its attorneys, Norman Waterhouse, who then turned the probe over to Mellor Olsson, another Adelaide law firm. Then, it was decided to hire cyber security specialist Mark Gare to look into whether the councillor was the one who sent the message.
In an interview, Cr Carbone stated that the message was sent “to the wrong person” and that it could have occurred because he got the messaging functions of Facebook and Instagram “mixed up” while gazing at “beach scenes.”
He also claimed someone may have had possession of his phone and sent the message as a joke, or that his ‘phone could have been hacked’, although the report noted he had never suffered any other issues that would lead him to think he was a victim of hacking.
When asked about whether he followed a ‘concerning’ amount of underage women on Instagram, Cr Carbone argued that as a local member ‘he takes a keen interest in supporting young people and families’.
If he did follow a ‘concerning’ number of young people it was ‘in an attempt to generate community trust’, he argued.
However, the report ultimately rejected the councillor’s claims and concluded that he had in fact sent the message to the teenager.
It also rejected the his contention that he had only been trying to initiate a conversation about the weather: ‘We do not accept this position.’
The report stated that a conversation about the weather is ‘not typically prefaced by comment about bikini photographs’.
Cr Carbone had denied he followed a ‘concerning’ number of ‘under-age people’ and argued that: ‘in any event, as a councillor, he takes a keen interest in supporting young people’.
However, the investigation concluded that Cr Carbone follows a number of Instagram accounts considered ‘inappropriate’ in his work environment, with those accounts featuring young girls in bikinis and gym clothes.
The report did add that Mr Gare had found ‘no evidence of Cr Carbone having any inappropriate interactions with minors’.
It was advised that the local representative apologise in writing to the teenager and the Burnside Council for the statement.
Additionally, it was suggested that Cr. Carbone discontinue using the Instagram account since it wasn’t affiliated with Burnside Council and go to social media training.
The probe has thus far cost the taxpayers of Adelaide $11,585.
Two years after they first connected online during the Covid-19 pandemic, the councillor wed his wife Angela at the Mt Osmond Golf Club in March.
On Monday, Cr. Carbone used Facebook to publish a family photo with his wife and children and express gratitude to those who had written supportive remarks.