Fremantle mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge hopes the new cocky campaign has wings.

“PEOPLE are ready for change,” says the co-ordinator of a new campaign aimed at saving three endangered species of black cockatoo often seen around the southern suburbs.

Save the Black Cockatoos coordinator Paddy Cullen said despite laws and policies being enacted, the local extinction of the cockatoos was still a real threat, so five peak groups had banded together to make some noise for the iconic birds.

Late last month they presented a 1,500-signatures petition for Steven Pratt the South Metro MLC Stephen Pratt to present to Parliament.

The campaign aims to stop the expansion of mining bauxite in native forests surrounding the metropolitan area and to preserve the banksia woodlands of the Swan coastal plain, while also drawing attention to the illegal shooting of cockies in commercial orchards.

Mr Cullen believes the new campaign will have a greater chance of success than its predecessors because there was a greater public consciousness about the issue. 

“Politicians are starting to wake up to this” Mr Cullen said.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, Australia has the world’s worst mammal extinction rate. 

Mr Cullen said it was an historic time of biodiversity and climate crisis, but also a decade of ecological restoration.