ozideas,

That's a nice, but inadequate, 60 year old idea.

The Universal Declaration is an excellent, but ancient document.

Humanity has moved on and developed since then. Why should Australians go back to the past, when we can and must move forward? Legislating what you propose lacks courage. It would be a cop out. The Declaration fails to mention human rights that have since been declared and agreed. This would set us and our human rights back in time, not bring us to the present.

Why start to legislate the earliest document, rather than the complete International Human Rights Law?

It could be almost guaranteed that Parliaments will find excuses not to legislate any further human rights once they've legislated only this small, early beginning of human rights. One of the excuses to not legislate more of what are our human rights now (that lazy, wilful governments have failed to legislate at the same time as ratifying each component of contemporary human rights) after what you propose will be cases brought to the Courts for the hearing of human rights violations, especially so as to clarify broad components of the Declaration with respect to the whole of International Human Rights Law. It would simply serve to fund too many Court cases.

Your short version fails to mention issues of: age; education; indigenous peoples; parental right to choice; parents' rights and responsibilities in raising their children; parents rights to establish and operate independent schools; personal values and personal convictions vs those of the State; children's rights; democracy; apolitical education preparing young people for life as effective independent adults; politics; sexual preferences; ability / disability; personal responsibilities; collective responsibilities; private property issues.

Why settle for less than Australian Governments have agreed to when the foregoing are subsequent to, built on the foundation of, are implied, but not specified, in the Universal Declaration?

Legislation must also empower competent Courts (as separate and distinct from HREOC), and a competent judiciary, to hear cases of alleged violations and impose consequences and penalties in cases where human rights have been proven to have been violated.