The centrepiece proposals in Ambitious Australia would redefine what counts as R&D, leave the fiscal cost unexamined, and concentrate benefits on a very small proportion of Australian innovative businesses. The expanded startup stream converts the RDTI from an R&D incentive into an early-stage business subsidy. No OECD country subsidises deployment and commercialisation through its R&D tax incentive. Without forward estimates, it is impossible to judge whether proposed benefi