A federal parliamentary inquiry has been launched in a bid to address the intergenerational cycle of poor adult literacy in Australia. Imagine being unable to read a book to your children, fill out important forms or decipher ingredient labels on food or medicine. That’s an unacceptable reality for a shocking amount of Australian adults, literacy experts said. The exact number struggling with literacy across the nation is unclear, but the most recent, reliable survey, conducted in 2012, found more than 14 per cent have very low literacy skills. That equates to more than 2.8 million people. “People that are in that bottom percentage group would have trouble reading the back of a medicine box,” Australia Reading Writing Hotline Manager Vanessa Iles said. “They’d certainly have trouble reading to their children and helping them with their homework.” Reading online bills, getting a drivers licence, writing a resume, signing up for volunteer …