Yes that is a good way of explaining it. And the same principles of corporate governance apply, or at least they should.
In the immediate case, the strata manager and/or the EC or even the solicitor may try and claim legal privilege on the documents. I don’t see how they can, because basjan is an owner and effectively is a party to the dispute. It does seem very strange if you have inspected the strata records as you say, and there is very little documentation there. The strata manager should have it. They may not have all that is on the solicitors’ files, but they should have things such as any legal advice given. If the EC members have it, and I bet they do, they are holding it in their capacity as EC members and are obliged to provide you with copies.
As an owner, you can’t ask the solicitor directly for the files, and technically some of it may fall outside the ambit of the sections that Whale quotes (at least that is what the solicitor may claim). So that is a trickier one. I would start with the EC and strata manager.
As an aside, was there a resolution at a GM to spend all that money on legal and related fees? There may well have been, but if there wasn’t, the EC members could be personally liable.