It is understood the 35-year-old will be paroled in Canterbury and will work on a farm in the region after serving more than three years of a five-year jail term for poaching, arson, vandalism and killing animals.
Macdonald was acquitted after a trial in the High Court at Wellington in 2012 of the July 2010 murder of his brother-in-law Scott Guy.
Macdonald was due to be released in April next year.
The Parole Board said yesterday, in granting parole from next month, Macdonald no longer posed an undue risk if ''subject to stringent conditions ... given the changes which he has made and the strength of his release plan''.
The board declined parole last November, but felt ''he has been endeavouring to change his behaviour and to react to early warning signs that he is reverting to old behaviours''.
''The decision of the last board came as a shock to Mr Macdonald,'' the decision said.
''It caused him to focus, as he had not done before, on the safety plan he developed with a psychologist some years ago and to make a greater effort to understand personality traits and patterns of behaviour which increase his risk of reoffending.
''He has sought others' views and tried to reflect on the consequences of his actions on them.''
The board said he had asked for advice, which previously he found difficult to do, and had practised letting things go rather than holding grudges.
He was showing increased openness, which had been confirmed by prison staff.
He had a strong group of supporters, an offer of employment, accommodation and had worked to gain qualifications while in prison, the board said.
The date of Macdonald's parole was withheld by the board, but he would be released next month.
As part of his parole conditions, Macdonald is forbidden from entering the North Island, from communicating with his victims or co-offender Callum Boe and from possessing firearms without his probation officer's consent.
He is also subject to electronic GPS monitoring and a daily curfew of 10pm-6am.
The Otago Daily Times understands Macdonald is serving his prison term in Christchurch.
