From 1984-2003 Mackie was director and co-proprietor of Adelaide's leading independent literary book retailer, Imprints Booksellers. Mackie served for a decade with the Adelaide Writers' Week literary festival Advisory Committee, including four years as its chair, and in 1999 he founded the Adelaide Festival of Ideas. During his years of running Imprints, he also served in many board and other advocacy roles in the community and cultural benefit sectors, including as President of the Adelaide West End Association, the FEAST Adelaide Lesbian and Gay Cultural Festival, as a Trustee of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, and member of the Libraries Board of South Australia. He has also served on the Council of the University of South Australia, and was an inaugural member of the Dame Roma Mitchell Trust Fund for Children and Young People. Working with the Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann and the Minister for Disability, Mackie established the Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Trust Fund. He also served on the Board of Management of the Don Dunstan Foundation, and later as one of its patrons. In May 2000 he was elected to the Adelaide City Council and served in that capacity until May 2003. During that period Mackie developed the first Adelaide City Arts and Living Culture Strategy and played a leading role to improve relations with the Aboriginal community. He developed a City Flags Policy that ensured the permanent flying of the Aboriginal Flag alongside the national flag in Victoria Square, and became a leading proponent of the Victoria Square and Central West Redevelopment Strategy. In May 2003 Local Government elections Mackie contested the Lord Mayoralty of the City of Adelaide. Mackie commenced service as Executive Director of Arts SA in January 2004, a role in which he worked hard to grow the state's festivals culture. During this time the state government's annual investment in the arts and culture increased from to more than per annum. In September 2008 he became acting Deputy Chief Executive of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. He was appointed Acting Chief Executive for two extended periods. In January 2009, Mackie chaired the State Emergency Management Committee, co-ordinating the state's response to a major heatwave emergency. As Deputy Chief Executive, his responsibilities included Arts SA, SafeWork SA, Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Capital City Committee Directorate, the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence Program and State Records. During this period he also established the Australian Centre for Social Innovation and the Integrated Design Commission SA. In 2008, Mackie was appointed by Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of Australia, as a member of the Council of the Order of Australia, a role in which he served until 2013. From 2008 to 2013, he served as Chairman of the South Australian Premier's Communications Advisory Group, the state's watchdog on tax-payer funded advertising. In January 2012, at the invitation of Minister for the Arts, Health and Ageing, Hon John Hill MP, Mackie took on the role of 'ageing provocateur' as Executive Director, Office for the Ageing. In February 2013 he left the SA Public Sector and from September 2013 to August 2014 served as CEO with Sydney-based not-for-profit network, Place Leaders Asia-Pacific Ltd. He has served as a member of the board of Volunteering SA&NT and of Soundstream New Music Collective, was Chairman of the board of Festival Fleurieu and from July 2015, as Chairman of the board of Adelaide Festival of Ideas Association Inc. In June 2014 he was appointed a member of the Australia Council for the Arts' Major Performing Arts Panel. In March 2016 Mackie was appointed CEO of the History Trust of South Australia, with effect from the end of April 2016. He is still in the position. He is a Trustee of Palya Fund and a member of the Ngeringa Arts Advisory Board. In May 2020 Mackie was once again elected to the City of Adelaide council, this time as a result of a by-election.
Honours and awards
2002 – Medal of the Order of Australia, for his "service to the community through the promotion of the arts, in particular the Adelaide Festival of Ideas".
2006 – Flinders University Distinguished Alumni Award.
2007 – Australia Business Arts Foundation Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Cultural Leadership Award, in recognition of his efforts to promote business partnership with the arts.
2015 – Inaugural Jim Bettison and Helen James Foundation Award.
