Christchurch white supremacist Philip Arps loses bid to join school board

Philip Arps has lost his bid to join a school board. Photo / NZME

A notorious Christchurch white supremacist has today failed in his bid to be elected to a multicultural secondary school board.

Philip Arps, who was jailed for spreading disturbing footage of the March 15, 2019, terror attack, was standing for Te Aratai College's board of trustees in Linwood.

The father-of-six and self-confessed Hitler-admirer was pushing to become one of five parent representatives at the school, which is just 1km from Linwood Islamic Centre where nine people were murdered in the mosque shootings three years ago.

But today the election results were released - and Arps did not make the cut.

Arps received 25 votes (2.6 per cent) and finished in last place. The successful candidate with the lowest number of votes received 131.

A preliminary notice from the school said all nine candidates had been notified.

"We are really pleased that the five candidates who were elected are of the fine quality that they are," said Te Aratai College principal Richard Edmundson.

"We look forward to the board and the school continuing the direction that it is in - a direction that is based on a clear understanding that Aotearoa New Zealand is a bi-cultural nation with multi-cultural communities and we celebrate that diversity."

City councillor Sara Templeton said the news came as a "huge relief to me and many others in the school community".

"This won't be the last time that someone tries something like this, so it's still essential the minister and the associate minister should be looking at safeguarding our schools and making any changes to make that happen," she said.

After Arps joined the race for the board, Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti sought urgent advice about school board elections.

Tinetti said she had also been examining whether legislative changes needed to be made.

She had sought urgent advice about whether the code, which was already being developed, could be tied to someone's eligibility, she said.

"I want to see whether there's room for that to strengthen the work of who is eligible or what people can declare when they come through to stand for a board. I'm not sure what that will look like but that's what I'm seeking."

In 2020, Arps was jailed for nearly two years for getting footage of the mosque shootings doctored with a "Call of Duty" tagline.

And in 2016, he was one of a group of men who filmed themselves doing Hitler salutes as they delivered boxes of pigs heads and offal to the Al Noor mosque.

"White power … Bring on the cull," Arps was seen saying in the video.

In that case, he was convicted of offensive behaviour and fined $800.

- Additional reporting, Pierre Nixon