Lift in ‘aged and disabled’ complex out for 10 days

Can you advise please the best cause of action. This is a SEPP5 Strata Complex*.
The lift in the Heritage House which is part of a 21 apartment complex was playing up and not working correctly for several days.
The fault was first reported to a committee member on the 13th of January 2022. On Friday the 14th of January this committee member reported it to the Strata Manager.  A service call was requested.
This was denied almost immediately by the secretary of the committee. The secretary did not consult with the reporting committee member or the owners. Is there a record of a committee meeting that indicates that this decision was taken by a majority of committee members or does the secretary have the power to make decisions of this nature without any consultation?
We were told by the Strata Managers that they have to take their instructions from the committee, this appears to leave owners powerless.
As a consequence we were without the use of the lift for ten days. We were forced to  use the stairs. A resident of the Heritage House has been in the lift when it failed to operate.  It was a terrifying and very unpleasant experience waiting to be released.  She or I had no wish to put ourselves in this position and there was no need for us to do so.
This lack of maintenance posed great difficulties for the two women living on the second floor.  One is 80 years old and the other in her mid 70’s.  Both owners have mobility issues.  The lift is also used to move our groceries and other heavy items to our units. These issues were highlighted in a follow up email on the 14th of January 2022 when service was denied.    This denial caused great hardship.
Our requests as to when the lift could be repaired were ignored from that point onwards. Another email sent on the 21st of January highlighting again the physical and emotional problems went unanswered except by the Strata Manager who advising the email was going to be discussed with the committee.  There has been no correspondence received regarding this matter since that date.
The assumption is that we were to use the lift, as according to two committee members, it goes up and down. It appears we were to continue to use the lift until it failed, possibly with one of us stuck in it.  Then a service call might be justified.
On Monday 24th of January a mechanic appeared without any prior communication to fix the lift.  On the day this occurred service was also required on the main lift.  Had this not been the case it appears our lift would still be unrepaired.
The committee is elected to represent all of us and to act on our behalf. We assume that this includes statutory obligations regarding duty of care. Is this the case?
Substantial strata fees are collected to deal with all maintenance issues regardless of where they occur. This is not the case in this complex. Is there any path for owners to overcome these situations?

*Sepp5 buildings are intended for older people and those with disabilities and are permitted to bypass many planning restrictions on condition that they provide wheelchair access etc to all units.

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