White Australia policy
McLaren contested the 1949 federal election as an independent candidate for the seat of Melbourne, running against Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell on a platform of opposition to the White Australia policy; he received 3.6% of the vote. He organised the John Fisher Williams Memorial Foundation in 1951, and later published "The Christian Faith and the White Australia Policy". He died while revising a manuscript on Jesus' life at Kew in 1957 and was buried at Box Hill.