He acquired the nickname "Chainsaw" from ABC rural reporter Judy Kennedy due to his raspy voice.

He now attributes the moniker to his ability to "cut through red tape",[1] and it was alluded to in his 1998 election campaign through the slogan "The Right Voice for Groom".

[3] In an interview with Four Corners on 9 November 2009, Macfarlane said that his position on global warming had changed "a bit", since he had recognised a greater importance for mankind's contribution.

[4] Acting as Climate Change Spokesman for the Coalition in 2009, he spent 5 weeks in negotiations around a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme with Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong,[5] before a leadership spill deposed party leader Malcolm Turnbull and replaced him with Tony Abbott,[6] and the policy was overturned.

He claimed that his experience representing regional interests was "second only to" retiring federal Nationals leader and fellow Queenslander Warren Truss.

[12] Greens Senators Larissa Waters and Lee Rhiannon claimed[13] that the appointment seemed to breach the current statement of ministerial standards, which requires that ex-ministers not engage in lobbying for an eighteen-month period after ceasing to be a minister.