Lindy Morrison announces retirement from Support Act

Go-Betweens legend and musicians advocate Lindy Morrison is stepping down as Support Act’s national welfare coordinator, more than two decades after joining the music industry charity.

Morrison will retire from the organisation with effect from 21st April, according to a statement issued Wednesday morning.

“It’s been the most worthwhile experience and satisfying job for me for 22-and-a-half years,” Lindy comments. “I have been fortunate to see this charity grow into what it has become.”

Morrison will be a tough act to follow. She joined Support Act in 1998 and was the organisation’s only paid worker for many years and the only Social Worker until 2018.

During her time there, Morrison established and managed the process for assessing crisis relief applications and “earned the admiration and appreciation” of services users and the board and staff for her “ability to engage compassionately and honestly with services users to ensure they received the crisis relief they needed,” the statement continues.

Her successor is Anne Jacobs, who is the current Deputy National Welfare Coordinator, based in Melbourne.

Jacobs rises into this critical role with a Masters of Social Work and more than 10 years’ experience across crisis support, community health, housing support and homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol services, and more, and she’s said to have a special interest in trauma-informed care.

Like her predecessor, Jacobs is an artist. She’s a member of the girl group The Rebelles.

Anne Jacobs

“This is truly the end of an era,” says Support Act CEO Clive Miller. “We thank Lindy for her incredible contribution to the organisation over the past two decades and wish her all the best for the future.”

The handover at Support Act takes place at a challenging moment for Australia’s entertainment community, still reeling from the pandemic.

Since the health crisis began, Morrison has been responsible for managing a team of seven casual Social Workers and four admin assistants, who were recruited to meet the dramatic increase in demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

She and the team have assessed close to 2,000 applications for crisis relief, resulting in the distribution of more than $5 million in crisis relief grants.

“Our music community has been deeply affected by COVID,” Morrison said. “Not only have we had a 3,000% increase in applications in the past 12 months, but we made the transition from managing our data on a spreadsheet to a suitable client management system. I always said I wouldn’t leave until that was achieved. I will miss meeting our extraordinary crew, musicians, and workers coming to Support Act. I thank everyone who has supported this charity throughout the years.”

Morrison is nothing short of an icon in the national music community, both for her advocacy and her artistry.

Lindy Morrison

Lindy was the drummer with seminal indie rock outfit Go-Betweens, a critically-lauded but chronically underrated band the world over, whose reputation seems to grow with each passing year.

Indeed, there’s a bridge named in the band’s honour in central Brisbane, where the band formed in the late 1970s.

Morrison, a long-time performer director of PPCA, was awarded the Medal of the Order (OAM) in 2013 in recognition for her service to the Australian music industry as a performer and advocate.

The following year, she received the Ted Albert Award for outstanding service to the music industry during the 2014 APRA Music Awards, when the annual event was held for the first time at Brisbane City Hall.

She’s the subject of the new book My Rock’n’Roll Friend, penned by Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl, and she stars in a new national campaign for Apia Australia.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.