The Victorian government’s team in charge of delivering the 2026 Commonwealth Games was so inexperienced it would have struggled to host a 500-person conference, an inquiry has been told.

Event Pty Ltd director Simon Thewlis said one of the primary causes of the Games’ failure was that it was being organised by “generalist public servants” rather than specialists. He also panned the reliance of state government “super departments” on outsourcing work to consultancy firms.