NSW Irrigators Council chief executive, Andrew Gregson, was fuming this afternoon after the NSW and federal governments did not announce that the embargo on water sales to the Commonwealth had been lifted.
"This is important market information," Mr Gregson said.
He said the federal government was waiting for a suitable media moment.
The freeze on water sales was lifted in NSW after a Commonwealth-NSW Government deal was agreed to, which will allow irrigators to sell water to the Commonwealth for much-needed cash flow.
Another 370 gigalitres of general security water or equivalent will be purchased in NSW by the Commonwealth for the environment in the next five years.
A deal struck with Victoria will see 460GL of high security water in the same period.
It will mean the total amount of water sold to the Commonwealth will amount to 890GL.
The big winners from the embargo being repealed should be southern irrigators, whose $50 million deal between Murray Irrigation Limited and the federal government hung in the balance after the sale freeze was enforced.
The NSW embargo was put in place in late May after the Commonwealth bought $303m of Twynam's water.
The NSW Water Minister, Phil Costa, argued at the time that too much water had come from NSW and not enough from other States, in particular, Victoria.
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