[1] His father was an electrical engineer who served with the Royal Australian Navy during World War II and later worked at the steelworks in Whyalla, South Australia.

He also wrote opinion pieces for The Bulletin and Pacific Islands Monthly on local affairs and Australia's role in the lead-up to Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975.

[3] Macphee unsuccessfully sought Liberal preselection for the New South Wales seat of Berowra prior to the 1969 election, losing to Tom Hughes.

[1] Macphee was elevated to the second Fraser ministry following a ministerial reshuffle in November 1976, assuming the new portfolio of Minister for Productivity.

He spoke favourably on the recommendations of the Jackson Committee and said existing protectionist policies would need to be reviewed to produce "an internationally competitive, export-oriented manufacturing industry".

[5] After three years in the productivity portfolio, Macphee replaced Michael MacKellar as the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.

Macphee defended the role of compulsory arbitration as a means to protect wages in spite of pressure from the more conservative elements within the party, and held this post until the Fraser Government was defeated in March 1983.

In order to expose Liberal divisions on the issue, Prime Minister Bob Hawke moved a motion in Parliament that race or ethnic origin should never be a criterion for becoming an immigrant to Australia.

This challenge was portrayed in the media as a "wet" versus "dry" battle, although some commentators, such as Gerard Henderson, argued that Macphee had simply lost the support of the Liberal members in his electorate.

Macphee also worked with fellow former Liberal MP Alan Hunt in reforming the Victorian Legislative Council in a Constitutional Commission set up by the Bracks Labor Government.

He also publicly supported the 2005 "backbench revolt" of Petro Georgiou, Judi Moylan, Bruce Baird and Russell Broadbent, which saw the softening of some aspects of the legislation.

"[19] In 2020, in response to a push from a local group, Voices of Goldstein, Macphee endorsed the push for an independent candidate in his old seat of Goldstein, saying "the Liberal party branches are now controlled by the Liberal party head office, which does not listen to ordinary voters... that's the state we've got to in our democracy which has been abused by power hungry people.