Can we be bullied into taking legal action?

This is our first strata experience and we are finding it quite daunting. We are in a building which has numerous serious defects. We are currently paying extra levies to pay for defect reports and a quantity surveyor report. So far the process has been going on for a year with no repairs in sight. These are not just minor repairs either but repairs that actually affect whether the apartment can be inhabited. It now seems that the EC is being advised by one of the many consultants to take legal action against the builder/developer and the certifier. Unfortunately, the builders (2 went broke) and have disappeared and the certifier, well who knows (certainly a broken system but that’s another story). My gut tells me this is throwing good money after bad and that in a few years time we will have spent lots of money and see no repairs. In the meanwhile the apartment gets worse and I can’t live in it.

I am frustrated that repairs that I wish to make to my apartment to make it livable are all being put on hold by the EC based on some miracle settlement that will pay for all the repairs.

I want to know where I stand on the following.

1) If I am out voted at the next strata meeting and the majority wish to take legal action, do I really have to contribute extra strata levies to pay for lawyers for what I consider to be a lost cause?

2) Can the strata really prevent me from making essential repairs to my property so that someone can actually live in it?