Macca MacKenzie
Michael Mackenzie (2006-2007)
Trent Baines
Episodes: 4160-4175, 4194-4232, 4259-4360
Siblings: Two unnamed brothers
Adoptive Siblings: Martha MacKenzie
Occupation: Courier; Barman
Macca was first seen driving into town and nearly colliding with Belle Taylor, who had “borrowed” Barry Hyde’s car and was proving to be a less than competent driver. When Ric, Barry and Martha arrived on the scene, Martha quickly identified Macca as her brother. He was in town for Martha’s birthday and that evening he attended her party and met most of the locals.
Macca quickly struck up a repartee with Cassie and, on learning of her failed attempts to start up a boxing class at the surf club, offered to give her some lessons. He then asked her out and, after spending the day together, they shared their first kiss in the front room at the caravan park. Martha wasn’t entirely happy about Macca dating one of her friends, since he had a habit of dropping girls once he got tired of them and refusing to take their calls. He didn’t make a good first impression on Sally either when she came home from holiday to find Macca and sixteen-year-old Cassie coming home drunk, after Macca threw a party at Jack’s house while he was at work. Macca did his best to make a fresh start with her, moving out of the caravan park house and sleeping on Jack’s sofa in the house he shared with Kim and Dan.
When Macca got a call offering him a courier’s job, he planned to tell Cassie he was leaving but got scared when she told him she loved him. She found out anyway and Jack helped him realise he was afraid of commitment. He told Cassie he loved her but she was unimpressed until Martha told her Macca had never said that to any girl before and she raced to say goodbye to him. He promised he would make their long distance relationship work.
Macca returned to town a few weeks later, having got a run in the area. He began renting the flat above the Diner but was having trouble with the long, erratic hours that his job demanded and started relying on drugs. When he turned up at Colleen’s birthday drinks in a hyperactive mood after being exhausted shortly before, Ric became suspicious and found the drugs in his jacket pocket. Macca told him lots of people in his job took them and he could manage without them, flushing them to prove his point…but after only a few hours, he was calling his dealer for replacements. Then it was Cassie’s turn to find them and when she confronted him he ended up hitting her. She went running to Matilda but Macca won her over by getting rid of the drugs.
With the news that the Summer Bay Stalker was back in town, Macca became jealous when he saw Ric and Cassie supporting each other, even though she swore they were only friends, and was also angry when she discussed their relationship with Sally. When she tried to leave the flat during an argument, he grabbed hold of her and caused her to collide with the edge of a cupboard, badly injuring her stomach. At the hospital, she went along with his story that she slipped and agreed to give him another chance. When she had a pregnancy scare, Macca got excited about the idea of a family while Cassie was horrified about the idea of bringing a child into an abusive relationship.
Ric and Matilda were growing worried about their friend and asked Rachel to talk to her. She almost convinced Cassie to leave Macca but when he came home, Cassie insisted on staying with him. Macca then hit her again, leaving her with a bruised face, and told her they didn’t need anyone else. Cassie pretended to agree then started packing her bags. Macca tried to stop her leaving but Sally arrived, having also been brought up to speed by Ric and Mattie, and told him to stay away from her daughter. Ric came close to giving him a taste of his own medicine until he realised that would make him as bad as him and Martha disowned him. Macca went to the police and turned himself in but Cassie decided not to press charges, telling him to get help.
Macca was banned from Jack and Martha’s wedding but turned up outside the reception anyway, only for Cassie, Ric, Sally and Martha to make it clear he wasn’t welcome. He apparently missed Eve and Tracey turning up but noticed the building exploding and ran inside to help out. He tried to help Martha and Tony get an injured Jack to safety but a beam fell on him and trapped him. Cassie insisted on staying by his side until he was cut free and again at the hospital, where he had to have a splenectomy and was in danger of having an infected arm amputated. With Martha and several others missing after the helicopter crash, Macca left the hospital and headed out into the bush. He was found by Ric and the pair argued about the fact they both loved Cassie. When Ric slipped and fell off a cliff, Macca risked his injured arm to pull him to safety. Cassie, however, told him that although she still had feelings for him she couldn’t risk him hurting again and soon after reconciled with Ric.
After being properly discharged, Macca rejoined the search. He bought some more drugs to keep his energy levels up but Amanda talked him out of taking them. When the funds ran out, he was the first to suggest the cause was hopeless but when Amanda insisted she knew they were still alive, he went back out with her and Tony to find them. With the crisis over, Macca prepared to leave town but dropped by Amanda’s to say goodbye.He found her in the pool with her hand stuck in a filter and fell in while freeing her. Irene turned up at the house, wondering why Amanda had missed a meeting with Belle, and on catching them getting dry assumed they were having an affair.
Macca returned to town again a few months later and told Cassie he’d completed his counselling. She told him she was happy with Ric and he began renting a van and working at Noah’s. He and Cassie nearly kissed when he helped her fix a tap and, when Ric went away on a training course, he made his move, holding Cassie’s hand when she came round Martha’s for dinner and then kissing her on the wharf. She insisted it was a mistake but then they kissed again in the bar. She admitted she wanted to be with him but asked him to keep things low key until she could break up with Ric face to face and also persuaded him to move out of the park and share a flat. Macca confided in Jack, who was unhappy lying to Ric and Martha, and Amanda. When Martha noticed him wearing aftershave, he admitted he had a new girlfriend and, after Colleen overheard him talking to Amanda and he was seen in an intimate talk with Cassie, Alf began to suspect who it was. Amanda came to their rescue by claiming she was Macca’s girlfriend and offered the clandestine lovers her house to meet at.
Tired of the lies, Cassie decided to go to see Ric in the city but it proved too little too late when Ric came home early and found her and Macca kissing on the sofa. He angrily lunged at Macca and Alf and Sally had to break up the fight. Almost the whole town was disgusted by what they had been doing: Cassie was forced to move out of the caravan park house and stay with Irene, while Macca was fired by Alf on the grounds he couldn’t trust him and thrown out of his flat by his annoyed flatmate, sleeping in his car until Amanda let him stay with her. Realising people might go easier on them if Ric was happy, he and Cassie ended up playing matchmaker between Ric and Matilda when they admitted they were attracted to each other.
Macca found himself on the other side of secret keeping when Amanda confided in him about her affair with Drew and he advised her not to do anything to ruin her relationship with Belle. When Amanda admitted the affair and Belle rejected her, she turned to Macca for comfort and kissed him but apologised afterwards. He was also the first to learn about her feelings for Peter. He managed to get his job with the courier company back but it meant working long hours again and he was frequently exhausted. When the company offered him an office job in the city, he was pleased but told Cassie he would only take it if she went with him. To his surprise, when Sally banned her from going she responded by agreeing to the move and the pair said a quick farewell to the Bay.
Even before they could unpack, the couple received the news Sally had been stabbed. Macca wasn’t too pleased when Cassie dropped everything to return to the Bay and only reluctantly accompanied her to Sally’s welcome home party. He was even less happy when Cassie told Matilda that with Macca at work, she was feeling bored stuck at home with no friends. He tried to get her to cut all ties with her old life and refused to let her go out to work even though they had a stack of bills coming in. When she wanted to go back after Rocco was attacked, he asked her to stay in and wait for a TV to be delivered instead. He was surprisingly calm, however, when she again dropped everything on hearing Ric had been arrested and even went back with her for the trial.
Cassie still wasn’t happy though and told Macca she wanted to move back home, reminding him he’d said she could if things didn’t work out. He followed her back to the Bay and tried to drag her back to the city, saying he wouldn’t be able to manage without her, before hitting her. He then left, disgusted with himself. When Alf, Sally and Cassie went back to the house to get her things, they found Macca’s stuff gone and a letter from him apologising to her and saying he was turning himself in.