Any owner can arrange to view all documents, minutes and correspondence at the strata manager’s office for a small fee. If the Strata Manager claims this breaches privacy laws they are either lying or incompetent or both. Our good friend Suzie Broome, a strata lawyer with our sponsors Makinson & D’Apice ,recently told an OCN seminar that there is effectively no such thing as privay in strata matter. You could argue for things to remain commercial in confidence, when a business rival was also an owner, for instance, and legally restricted when an owner was taking action against the EC (or vice versa), but she said she doubted either argument would stand up in court.
All owners have equal rights under strata law and being a member of the EC does not impart any executive privileges to keep Owners Corporation business secret from owners.
If you want to scare these people, point out that their actions, in wilfully ignoring the law, may invalidate their EC insurance that protects them from the financial consequences of making bad decisions.