13 Facts About Misha Lajovic

Milivoj Emil "Misha" Lajovic was an Australian politician.

Misha Lajovic was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian Senate 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.

Misha Lajovic left Slovenia in 1945 when communist Josip Broz Tito took power, moving first to Italy and then Australia, where he arrived in 1950 at the age of 30.

Misha Lajovic went to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre and then to Holbrook, New South Wales, where he worked in a bottling factory.

Misha Lajovic worked in a clock and car accessory factory from 1953 to 1966, and then as manager for his brother's Sydney-based business Impact Containers from 1966 to 1974.

Misha Lajovic 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, Misha Lajovic was elected to the Australian Senate as a Liberal Senator for New South Wales.

In parliament, Misha 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.

Misha Lajovic was fiercely anti-socialist and anti-communist, decrying what he viewed as "totalitarianism".

Misha Lajovic 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.

Misha Lajovic strongly supported the establishment of SBS by the Fraser government.

Misha Lajovic was twice accused by Labor Senators under parliamentary privilege of being a Nazi sympathiser, which he fiercely denied.

Misha Lajovic held the seat until his retirement in 1985.