The meeting was organised by Reclaim Our City out of concern that the State Government planned to sell the harbour to private developers.

It passed a resolution for greater transparency and for the Goverment to stop the expression of interest process in regard to development underway at the harbour unless it were put to a vote by residents.

The meeting also called on Wollongong City Council to oppose publicly the expression of interest process, "noting the consequences that secretive and murky deals with developers have already had for our city".

Reclaim Our City spokesman Arthur Rorris said non-attendance by the region's five Labor MPs was noted. He said the community would fight the development.

"I think proposals to develop and sell our harbour have hit a raw nerve - people view the harbour as an icon for our region," he said.

"This is a community that's prepared to fight this and win it."