Research has shown that there is NO benefit of pushing early academics onto children, in fact - it can be detrimental.  Play is the way children learn best in the early years.  The Federal and State Governments need to research education models such as Finland and seek out the current research.  Let Australia become a leader in Early Childhood Education. Play allows children to develop a much needed foundation for life.  It develops creativity, imagination, social skills, early literacy, numeracy, speech, cognitive development, co ordination, pre-reading, pre-writing, self-confidence, independence, decision making and problem solving just to name a few of the many benefits of play based learning.  Play based learning creates children who think. A young Korean student once said "We are robots". Many countries use robotic styles of learning.  The result is a robotic style thinker and worker. Australia needs confident leaders, creative thinkers, versatile problem solvers and competent decision makers.  Let Australian children develop a love of learning through play.  Do not set them up for academic failure because they are too young.  Let them be three, four and five year olds - that is their best preparation for school.