Dorothy Catherine Jelicich QSO (née MacDonald, 19 January 1928 – 10 April 2015) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She served one term in the House of Representatives representing the Hamilton West electorate, and was afterwards a city councillor in Hamilton and then Manukau.

Jelicich was born in Sydney on 19 January 1928.^[1] Her father was a semi-skilled labourer.^[2] She was educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School and the Elam School of Fine Arts.^{[citation needed]} In 1949 she married Paul Jelicich, a bricklayer,^[1] and, with family support, she opened a restaurant in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe.^[2] Purchasing a small dairy farm at Bombay in 1964, the couple took up farming, but in 1970 she became a shoe store manager and then a trade union organiser.^[2]

Jelicich, through her union job, became a member of the Labour Party and became a member of the executive of the Manurewa electorate and president of the Papatoetoe electorate committee. She stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Hauraki in 1969.^[3] In 1972 she won the seat of Hamilton West for Labour by defeating Hamilton City Councillor Derek Heather after the incumbent, Leslie Munro of the National Party, retired.^[4] She became the first woman in New Zealand parliamentary history to open the Address-in-Reply debate.^[5] In 1975 she lost her seat to Mike Minogue.^[4]

Following her defeat she stood for the vice-presidency of the Labour Party at the 1976 party conference. She lost to Gerald O'Brien, placing second in the delegate ballot with a credible 344 votes to O'Brien's 585.^[6] In early 1977 she stood as a candidate for the Labour Party nomination in the Māngere by-election. She had the backing of both the outgoing MP Colin Moyle, Labour leader Bill Rowling, but regardless she lost out to future Prime Minister David Lange.^[7] She contested the Hamilton West electorate once more in the 1978 election.^[8]

She briefly served on the Hamilton City Council after winning a by-election in 1979.^[9] She unsuccessfully stood for the Labour nomination at the 1980 Onehunga by-election. Just as in Mangere she gathered much support among local members but again missed out, narrowly losing to Fred Gerbic.^[10][11] In 1982 (via another by-election) she became a Manukau City Councillor, representing Mangere Ward until she retired in 1995.^[12]

In the 1986 New Year Honours, Jelicich was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.^[13] In 1993, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.^[14]

Jelicich died on 10 April 2015 at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland at the age of 87, having been predeceased by her husband in October the previous year.^[15] She was survived by their three children.^[16]