At least 200 people turned out for a community gathering to kick off a campaign to stop offshore windfarms in the newly-declared zone off Warrnambool and Port Fairy.

Former Warrnambool mayor Mike Neoh said he had been approached about facilitating the community gathering because of the shock, confusion and sense of helplessness about the offshore windfarm proposal.

"Warrnambool was very complacent...we could never really comprehend they could be off Lady Bay," he said.

Mr Neoh said the debate was not about renewables, it was about "location, location, location".

Member for Wannon Dan Tehan slammed the federal government's consultation on the issue saying it had been a "complete and utter sham".

"To show you what a circus it is, he declares the zone off Port Fairy and Warrnambool and goes to Portland to announce it," he said.

"The sad reality is we're the ones who have to wear the consequences of the sham.

"The size and scale of these offshore windfarms is like nothing we've seen. They're taller than the highest CBD building in Melbourne."

Mr Tehan said governments would try and invest in the Port of Hastings so they can bring blades and towers from other countries and ship them around to Warrnambool.

"Do you think the Port of Portland will get expanded because of this? No," he said.

Mr Tehan said there would be no community benefit "whatsoever". "In fact, the community will lose. We will lose key industry from here," he said.

"Enough is enough.

"We are doing our bit to reach net zero by 2050. We are doing more than any other community in Australia.

"We need everyone else do their fair share."

Mr Tehan urged people to sign his petition so it could be tabled in parliament telling the crowd to talk to family, friends and colleagues to get them to sign it.

He asked whether anyone in the community had received even one kilowatt of cheap electricity for what the region was doing for renewable energy.

"We are being treated like second class citizens," he said.

"This declared zone is not in the right place, is not the right thing for our community and needs to be scrapped. They need to go elsewhere like Port Philip Bay if they are serious about doing this."

Mr Tehan also read a statement from Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell, who couldn't be at the meeting, urging the community to stay vocal because there was so much at stake.

Introduced as a community hero who helped campaign to stop offshore windfarms near Portland, Southern Ocean Marine Alliance cofounder Ronda Matheson-Browne gave a call to action to the people of Warrnambool and Port Fairy.

"There's no way they would propose to have these offshore wind towers in Lorne. There's no way they would have them off Brighton Beach," she said.

"We need to raise our collective swords as a community."

She told the crowd that you can beat governments and urged the crowd to send them a message.

"I quote Greta Thunberg...'how dare you'," she said. "How dare you for assuming remote coastal communities would not raise their swords against proposals to destroy our unique and spectacular environments."

Mr Neoh said Logans Beach Whale nursery had been declared a habitat "critical to the survival of the southern right whales" in the the federal government's own recovery plan.

Debra Sands, who lives on the Logans Beach nursery, made signs with the help of her daughter opposing offshore windfarms. "I don't disagree with renewable energy," she said.

But she said she was concerned they would be near the nursery where whales come to raise their young and there had not been enough research done worldwide on the impact of turbines on whales.

"It's right in the migration path of the southern right whales," she said.