$800 million in cuts to Australia’s Economic Accelerator to fund CSIRO and other initiatives undermines the Government's own priorities and sends a message to Australian researchers, founders and commercialisation teams that Australia is still unwilling to back research translation. As Prof Melanie Davern from RMIT put it, shifting these already-committed funds to other R&D avenues is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Abruptly withdrawing these funds also erased thousands of hours of researchers work across universities and industry. More funding to research is required if Australia wants any chance at a sovereign innovation economy.