Mark Thompson, who began in the role seven months before Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi died on the Thunder River Rapids ride in October 2016, gave evidence at an inquest into the tragedy on the Gold Coast on Monday.

Mr Thompson said he'd inherited an "archaic" system with too few qualified safety staff when he'd arrived at the park, and was also forced to seek extensions from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) to ensure safety inspections were undertaken to renew Dreamworld's registration.

"The system of the safety team was not as it should have been," Mr Thompson told the inquest.

When Mr Thompson was shown a health and safety policy for the park that hadn't been updated in six years at the time of the tragedy, he said that should have been reviewed "on a three-year basis".

Barrister Matthew Hickey, representing Ms Low's family, put it to Mr Thompson the lack of policy review indicated a "complete and utter abdication of responsibility".

"Yes," Mr Thompson replied.

Minutes from an executive meeting in March 2016 shown in the inquest revealed that while Dreamworld revenues were up, profits were down.

"Repairs and maintenance spending needs to stop, only CAPEX [capital expenditure]," the document said.

The inquest was also shown results from an external safety audit in July 2015 giving the park a score of 61.6 per cent, which was a "significant improvement" on the 2014 score of 46.1 per cent.

A 75 per cent score is required for full compliance.

The inquest heard that Queensland government registration of the park's rides was due for renewal in January 2016, but that Dreamworld was granted two extensions until the December 2016 because its in-house engineering team did not meet the requirements to perform the safety inspections.

The inquest hasn't heard if the inspection on the Thunder River Rapids ride had been completed by the date of the fatal accident.

An email from Mr Thompson to a WHSQ employee stated the park had been "let down" by an external inspector they had appointed for the park's major rides including the Thunder River Rapids ride.

Mr Thompson also told the inquest the staff he relied on were "green" when it came to dealing with safety matters and that he provided mainly a reactive and not proactive security service.

He said he hadn't been notified of past incidents on the Thunder River Rapids ride until after the October 2016 tragedy.

The inquest was also shown an internal memo proposing changes to the park's first-aid policy in which advice about rafts flipping and trapping guests on the Thunder River Rapids ride was crossed out.

Mr Thompson said only two of the park's 14-strong executive safety committee had formal safety qualifications, and that at least six were needed to properly deal with workplace health and safety at Dreamworld.

He said following the tragedy the team he'd requested was hired and on the ground by January 2017.

The inquest continues.

Australian Associated Press