Alan Joyce, Qantas Image Source: James Croucher

Qantas’ chief Alan Joyce has denied Labor senator Glenn Sterle and Transport Workers' Union (TWU) national secretary Tony Sheldon’s claims that Mr Joyce was misleading a Senate inquiry in reference to the 2011 lockout.

Senator Sterle said Mr Joyce informed the Senate committee in November 2011 that the decision to cease operations was his prerogative and was decided upon on the day of the lockout, according to the ABC.

 “The interpretation that I took as the chair of the committee was clearly the decision was wholly and solely Mr Joyce's and in front of that committee and my fellow committee members, we were led to believe quite clearly that the decision was made on that Saturday morning before the grounding,” Mr Sterle said.

However, the airline’s chief financial officer Gareth Evans said a lockout had been discussed at the executive committee level two weeks before it took place in October 2011.

Mr Sterle said serious repercussions fell upon individuals who attempt to mislead a Senate committee.

Qantas Group executive government and corporate affairs Olivia Wirth said Mr Joyce’s statement is in no way contradictory to Mr Evan’s court admission.

“This is another conspiracy theory from the union official who was at the centre of last year's dispute,” Ms Wirth said.

“Qantas had always known a lockout was an option because it’s the only form of industrial action an employer can take under the legislation but a range of options were under consideration and the decision was not made until the day.

 “Qantas had attempted to get a resolution with the unions right up to the decision.”

However, Mr Sheldon added that it was “quite clear” that the company was saying one thing to the public and another to the Senate.

“... in front of sworn evidence under oath that they tried to give the impression that Alan Joyce mysteriously woke up one morning and in a fit of rage decided to shut an airline down,” he said.

Qantas have released a portion of Mr. Joyce’s speech at the extensive committee proceedings.

“When we were doing the planning for the lockout—which, as I said, had been done for some weeks... the planning for this was part of a range of options and a range of scenarios that we were doing,” the speech read.

“I can categorically say I made a decision on Saturday. We do planning. I will be honest, Senator: we had looked at a lockout as an alternative for a long time and we had planning documents looking at how we would do a lockout, what it would entail.”