Ministers would be barred from moving straight from Cabinet into paid lobbying jobs under a Labour government, party leader Chris Hipkins has promised.

Paid lobbyists would also have to follow a mandatory code of conduct and appear on a public register showing who they are and who is paying them, Hipkins told the Law Association of New Zealand on Thursday.

The lobbying rules are part of a package of democratic reforms Labour says will help rebuild public trust in government. The package also limits the use of urgency in Parliament, toughens the Official Information Act and changes how local elections are run.

“Access to government should not depend on being able to afford someone with the right connections,” Hipkins said.

He asked for work on lobbying rules while he was Prime Minister, and Labour would finish the job, he said.

Under Labour, urgency would be restricted to genuine emergencies, fixing urgent errors in the law, budgets, and a 100 day plan of policies clearly signposted before the election.

Any law passed under urgency would automatically go back to a select committee within six months, so the scrutiny that was skipped would still happen.

Governments of both stripes had overused urgency, including Labour, Hipkins said.

“Winning an election gives a government a mandate to act. It does not remove the need to listen or to test the detail of what it proposes.”

The Official Information Act was written for a world of filing cabinets and paper, he said. Labour would require proactive release of information, including ministers’ diaries, and bring in penalties for breaches of the Act.

“Transparency is not a favour ministers grant when it suits them. It is part of being accountable to the public.”

Labour would also restore election day enrolment and give 16 and 17 year olds the vote in local elections.

People would no longer be able to vote in more than one council area. Third party campaigners in local and national elections would have to disclose donations on the same terms as political parties.

The reforms had to apply to every government, including one he led, Hipkins said.

Trust in politics was being worn down because people who worked hard and paid their bills were still falling behind, he said.

“They stop asking who has the better plan and start asking whether anyone will actually deliver.”

Hipkins used the speech to repeat Labour’s cost of living policies. They include taking on the supermarket giants, capping public transport fares at $20 a week, freezing fuel tax for three years and giving every New Zealander three free GP visits a year.

Labour would also cut eligible student debt and use its Start Work Now programme to get building underway on schools, hospitals and homes.

“This election is about the cost of living,” he said.

On artificial intelligence, Hipkins said workers whose jobs changed needed a chance to retrain. People affected by an automated decision should be able to understand it and challenge it, he said.

“If you’re not willing to make that happen on behalf of the people of the country you purport to lead, then why be in politics at all?”