In today’s “yikes” news story, an $11,500 investigation found an Adelaide councillor DM’d a teenage girl on Instagram from his professional account (!!!) just to comment on her bikini.
Burnside Councillor and married man Julian Carbone was subject to a code of conduct complaint after a 17-year-old girl received a weird message from his Insta and reported it to council.
“Lots of bikini photos — but it’s so damn cold at the moment hey,” said the message in question. Brb, vomited into my mouth a little.
A screenshot of the message the teenage girl included in her complaint.
ABCMark GareA screenshot of an account Julian Carbone was accused of following in a code of conduct report.news.com.auAnother “inappropriate” Instagram account Julian Carbone was accused of following.
According to the report, the teenager expressed concern Carbone was trying to befriend her and the act felt “tantamount to grooming”. Carbone claimed could have been hacked and the whole thing was a “misunderstanding”.
He also claimed he could have accidentally sent the message while on Facebook, and he told the the message was intended for “someone else”.
When asked who he meant to message, Carbone couldn’t recall. Which is it, sir?
Mellor Olsson Lawyers, who conducted the investigation, determined it was pretty unlikely Carbone was hacked or that anyone else sent the message.
The firm hired cyber security expert who straight up said it was “not possible” Carbone accidentally sent the message while scrolling Facebook.
Gare also found Carbone followed Instagram accounts considered inappropriate for work — including accounts of girls in “bikinis and gym clothes”.
In defence of his suss feed, Carbone said *if* he follows a bunch of young women it’s because he thought they were “local residents”.
He claimed he was just trying to support young people and generate trust in his local community, per .
The conduct report also scathingly rejected Carbone’s claim there was no grievance suffered between him and the teenage girl because the conversation was just “relating to the weather”.
“An intention to initiate a conversation about the weather is not typically prefaced by a comment about bikini photographs,” the report said. Incredible.
Carbone vehemently denies any inappropriate behaviour and defends his comment as misconstrued.
“This is the biggest misunderstanding I have ever come across in my 20-year association with the City of Burnside,” he said in a statement.
“Quite simply, the message was sent in error, she was not the intended recipient, and unfortunately I simply don’t have the time to assess each and everyone of my Instagram followers on whether they are in fact true or fake accounts.
“The whole investigation was punching at shadows and was quite frankly, unnecessarily nasty.”
Carbone said the “inappropriate” accounts he was accused of following were a result of not recognising fake accounts.
“As a husband and a father, clearly my social media is designed to keep my residents informed and engaged on local issues, so I have no intention of using it for this kind of unsavoury and crude behaviour,” he said.
“These accounts are clearly fake and the only reason I followed them back is because they followed me first, and without much investigation, assumed they were a local resident.”
The conduct report recommended the councillor should issue a written apology, cease using the Instagram account and attend training in relation to the use of social media.
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