Milivoj Emil "Misha" Lajovic (23 July 1921 – 5 June 2008) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

for New South Wales from 1975 to 1985, as well as the first migrant from a non-English-speaking background to be elected to the Senate. Lajovic was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) and studied business and accountancy at the State Commercial Academy. His father and brother supported ultranationalist general

Draža Mihailović Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб Дража Михаиловић; 27 April 1893 – 17 July 1946) was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, Chetnik Detachments ...

and his

Chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...

guerilla movement, and Lajovic was imprisoned three times during World War II for suspected support for Mihailović. He left Slovenia in 1945 when communist

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

took power, moving first to Italy and then

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, where he arrived in 1950 at the age of 30. Lajovic went to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre and then to Holbrook, New South Wales, where he worked in a bottling factory. He worked in a clock and car accessory factory from 1953 to 1966, and then as manager for his brother's

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based business Impact Containers from 1966 to 1974. He was the founding president of the Slovenian Association, vice-president of the Good Neighbour Council, and a member of the state executive and delegate to the state council of the Liberal Party. In 1975, Lajovic was elected to the

as a Liberal Senator for New South Wales.Misha Lajovic and

Andrew Theophanous Andrew Charles Theophanous (born 24 March 1946) is a Cypriot-born Australian former politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2000, and an independent member from 2000 to 2001. He is the au ...

(1984), 'The major political parties and ethnic affairs,' in James Jupp (ed.), ''Ethnic Politics in Australia'', George Allen and Unwin, North Sydney, New South Wales. In parliament, Lajovic served on Senate committees for publications, industry, trade and commerce, education and arts, and estimates, as well as joint committees on public accounts and the Australian Capital Territory. Lajovic was fiercely anti-socialist and anti-communist, decrying what he viewed as "totalitarianism". He supported migration and was concerned with the working conditions and social isolation experienced by migrants, but was hostile to the idea of multiculturalism, viewing it as divisive. He strongly supported the establishment of SBS by the Fraser government. Lajovic was twice accused by Labor Senators under parliamentary privilege (in 1976 and 1979) of being a Nazi sympathiser, which he fiercely denied. In 1981, he was one of several people named in a dossier tabled in parliament as "war criminals"; when '' The Daily Telegraph'' repeated the allegation, he sued them for defamation, resulting in a settlement from the newspaper. He held the seat until his retirement in 1985. He died in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lajovic, Misha Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales Members of the Australian Senate Politicians from Ljubljana Naturalised citizens of Australia 1921 births 2008 deaths Yugoslav emigrants to Australia Australian people of Slovenian descent 20th-century Australian politicians