Tony Abbott and his chief of staff Peta Credlin are enforcing a culture of “obsessive centralised control phobia” and are out of touch with voters, according to Liberal National Party senator Ian Macdonald, who has delivered a scathing attack on the Prime Minister’s office.

Senator Macdonald is furious that he has not been consulted about the government’s terms of reference for its Northern Australia policies, saying he “discovered” them by accident and was treated dismissively by the Prime Minister’s office.

“What you see in the terms of reference submitted by the government may be the Prime Minister’s office’s version of what it was all about,” Senator Macdonald said.

“But I have to advise them and my constituents that I will not have unelected advisers in the Prime Minister’s office telling elected politicians who are actually in touch with their constituencies what should and shouldn’t be done.”

Before the election and for many years, Senator Macdonald was the shadow parliamentary secretary for northern and remote Australia. He was responsible for the Coalition's northern Australia election policy, and launched it alongside Mr Abbott.

He was, however, dropped from the Coalition’s frontbench in September, calling it the worst day in his life.

The Queensland senator said he was “particularly disappointed” at the Prime Minister’s office’s dismissive responses to his “many inquiries” about the government’s terms of reference.

Mr Abbott’s staff seemed “to have an almost obsessive centralised control phobia, over this and every other aspect of Parliament,” Senator Macdonald said.

The senator said he was not elected to this Parliament by the Prime Minister’s office “but by the Liberal National Party … and by the voters of Queensland, particularly those in the north”.

The government’s terms of reference missed out on some key policies for northern Queensland, he added.

When Senator Macdonald asked the PMO to update him on the Northern Australia terms of reference, he said Mr Abbott’s staff told him: “We will let you know when the terms of reference are eventually decided."

The Prime Minister's office had ignored important issues for consideration by the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia, said Senator Macdonald, who says he had no choice but to add his own amendments to the committee's terms of reference.

"It should not have been necessary for me to have to move amendments to a government motion," Senator Macdonald said.

"[But] I don't believe that the terms of reference which I eventually discovered almost by accident ... were appropriate, in the best interests of northern Australia.

"There was little or I suspect no consultation with senators, generally, or particular politicians who have special interests in the north".

The government’s terms of reference missed out on some key policies for northern Queensland, Senator Macdonald added.

"I was incensed that the two things that were perhaps of most importance to Queenslanders were missing from the terms of references."

Senator Macdonald proposed amendments so that the northern Australia committee would examine the zonal tax system and a "definitive program" for the sustainable development of northern Australia.

Mr Abbott’s office has been contacted for comment.