Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Shadow report to the CERD Committee – 8 July 2010 continues to be a major issue for newly arrived migrants/entrants. A number of more recent reports, including the Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth, identified the assessment process as requiring improvement to better enable the successful transition of migrants into the workforce. 92 105. Fifty percent of complaints made under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (the RDA) in 2008-2009 were in the area of employment. 93 7.7 Health and well being of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (ICERD Articles 5,7) 106. Good health is one of the core capabilities that people need to participate well in Australia’s social and economic life. 107. The Building on Our Strengths - A Framework to Reduce Race-Based Discrimination and Support Cultural Diversity in Victoria provides a critical assessment of the health based impacts of racial discrimination and the health benefits of supporting cultural diversity. 94 108. The Framework established links between self-reported race discrimination and poor health outcomes including: depression, psychological distress, stress and anxiety. The link between self-reported discrimination and depression/anxiety is significant because stress factors are identified as major contributors to disease burden. The framework also establishes probable links between self-reported race discrimination and poor health outcomes including: high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, alcohol misuse, substance misuse, peer violence and low birth weight. 109. The Australian Bureau of Statistics measure health literacy levels across the Australian population using the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. The survey is an OECD measure and is also used in eleven other countries. The survey was administered most recently in Australia in 2006. 110. The 2006 data showed that 95 : • approximately 40 percent of all Australians have ‘adequate’ levels of health literacy • 60 percent of all Australians have less than ‘adequate’ levels of health literacy • 6 percent of the Australian population enjoys high levels of health literacy • adequate levels of health literacy are enjoyed by 40.6 percent of 15-24 year olds in the Australian population. In comparison, 33.2 percent of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds aged between 15-24 years have adequate levels of health literacy • in the broader population 17.4 percent of 65-74 years olds have adequate health literacy levels in contrast to 3.4 percent of people from culturally 31