Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under attack for going to the Fair Work Australia tribunal rather than making a direct ministerial order to get Qantas back in the air.
Qantas grounded all its aircraft on Saturday and said it would lock out employees from Monday in response to unions' industrial action, stranding tens of thousands of passengers at airports around the world.
The federal government stepped in and applied to the tribunal to either terminate or suspend the action.
However, a section of the Fair Work Act allows the country's leader to order the end of industrial action by unions or a company and opposition leader Tony Abbott says the government should have used those powers.
He said the people stuck at airport terminals knew who to blame - the prime minister who "didn't act as she could and should have acted under her own act".
PM defends decision
Ms Gillard has defended her decision, saying a direct ministerial orders has never been used and the government wasn't willing to test it.
"If we had used that section we would have ended up in a circumstance of legal uncertainty where the minister's declaration could have been taken to the courts with all the time delays and uncertainty that would have meant for Qantas, its employees and the travelling public."
Ms Gillard also told parliament in Canberra she had spoken to Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and made it clear she did not believe the "extreme action" of grounding its fleet should have been taken.
"I do not believe Qantas should have acted to leave tens of thousands of Australians stranded, effectively without notice, around Australia and in many parts of the world."
