In which case NPCs should be improved.
And as I've been explaining, you can't- EDs NPCs are designed for mission level interaction. Since nav points are vestigial, drop zone sizes small SC is the only place for haulers with NPCs. An NPC robotically obeys a NFZ and rules, a player can break them all.
If that's the aim, indeed. While those in favour of the proposal are quick to disregard opposition, the feature is currently there for any player to engage in at some point - to PvP-gate it would effectively remove it from players who don't find PvP to be "fun" and would remove it completely from console players without premium platform access, which I expect would pretty much guarantee that they would not engage in it once PvP-gated - which, in turn, reduces the number of potential participants. How many would start playing again or even buy the game for the first time if Powerplay were to be PvP-gated is an unknown - however if it were PvP-gated then I fully expect some players to ignore what Frontier has said and then push for Open only BGS (again).
Powerplay is stuck between trying to satisfy all modes and failing at it, considering it is now 5 years old and living in the shadow of other features.
Only FD know the amount of people without a console sub- but I expect those who PvP in other games would have a sub anyway since its required. Powerplay itself will always be niche, but at least if thats well defined it actually has a purpose in the game other than to be a shop window.
Plus, there are a lot of good reasons the BGS won't go Open and FD know it and would never do it.
It's not the only way to go - even if it would be the only palatable outcome for some players.
For the scope FD are aiming for (in short its
very small) its the only way possible to add anything without a major rework. It might be that there was some of the proposal not shared, but we will see.