From 1971 to 1977, MacDonald was Secretary of the Public Service Board.[1]
In 1983, he was appointed as permanent head of the new Department of Sport, Recreation and Tourism.[2] In 1986, MacDonald was said to have been tipped by insiders for the position of Commonwealth Ombudsman,[3] but media reported that opposition was strong to any appointment of a bureaucrat to the position, and MacDonald stayed in his Secretary position.[4] MacDonald was moved in 1987 instead for a senior position in the Data Protection Agency.[5]