The owners corporation has a duty to maintain and repair common property which you can enforce be seeking orders at NCAT.
You have already taken the first step by seeking mediation at Fair Trading so now you can move on to seeking orders at the Tribunal.
I think you could seek orders under section 232 (1)(e) and (2) “Failure to exercise a function” which under Section 106 is defined as the “duty of the owners corporation to maintain and repair common property”. (Extracts below)
Provided the Owners Corp hasn’t passed a by-law saying they will not maintain the lift (which is highly unlikely) it would be worth pursuing orders to get it done.
They will doubtless try to make you look bad by threatening other owners with special levies to pay for this but this is nonsense – you could get it done with a strata loan.
You might consider getting an independent lift engineer in to assess the problem and write a report (possibly with a view to getting the work done).
And as for the non-resident owners running the building – it sounds like it’s time for a palace coup. They have probably got where they are by proxy farming – all you need to do is get resident owners galvanised and kick the self-interested absentees out.
232 Orders to settle disputes or rectify complaints
(1) Orders relating to complaints and disputes The Tribunal may, on application by an interested person, original owner or building manager, make an order to settle a complaint or dispute about any of the following:
(e) an exercise of, or failure to exercise, a function conferred or imposed by or under this Act or the by-laws of a strata scheme,
(2) Failure to exercise a function
For the purposes of this section, an owners corporation, strata committee or building management committee is taken not to have exercised a function if:(b) application is made to it to exercise the function and it fails for 2 months after the making of the application to exercise the function in accordance with the application or to inform the applicant that it has decided not to exercise the function in accordance with the application.
106 Duty of owners corporation to maintain and repair property
(1) An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(7) This section is subject to the provisions of any common property memorandum adopted by the by-laws for the strata scheme under this Division, any common property rights by-law or any by-law made under section 108.
(8) This section does not affect any duty or right of the owners corporation under any other law.