It was NOT paid for by the local council and their ratepayers.
I did say that was based on the veracity of a previous post. Irrespective, they
are the operating authority whether you agree or not. It is still open for public use, with caveats, just like the rest of their public facilities.
Yes, and there is nothing in the act that gives them lawful authority!
The Act doesn't have to. It just has to protect them if they do. That authority is determined by other agencies.
By your rational, the council can at anytime decide that PPR is now a thing to use their roads, and they are removing the street lights and banning driving between sunset and sunrise.
They probably can. They can remove the street lights any time they want. They can close a road if they want to. They can stipulate whether you can stop on that road. They can stipulate whether you can park along that road. They can even make you (horror of horrors!) pay to park along that road.
The UK is considering banning new license holders from driving at night. In QLD if you are a P Plater with a bad driving record you can be banned from driving at night. That's not the council, but just another level of government telling you what you can and can't do on a "public" road.
Your utopia might sound great, but it's not reality.