Scott Hammond/Stuff
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met Blenheim apprentices from the partnership between the Woodbourne base facility management company PAE and the Ministry for Social Development (MSD).
Ardern was welcomed to the base with a haka, and visited the new Air Force headquarters, freshly refitted by the PAE apprentices.
“It is so critical to have people on the ground who know and love their community," she told them.
“It just means it brings so much passion to the job, and I hope you get some satisfaction from seeing the difference that you are making.”
After learning that it was carpentry apprentice Oliver Wiesner's birthday, Ardern led the Happy Birthday song.