Hoges still a hero in Byron Bay

COME home Hoges, we love you!

That's the overwhelming message to Paul Hogan on the streets of Byron Bay.

Hogan, 70, is marooned in Australia pending a Tax Office probe, while his wife, Linda Kozlowski, and their son remain in Los Angeles.

He has not been charged with any offence and last night it is understood he was nearing an agreement with the ATO.

Hogan has been recently spotted in Byron – believed to be a guest at old mate John ‘Strop' Cornell's luxury Beach Suites or his hinterland home at St Helena.

Mr Cornell is also part of the tax investigation.

The two men are heroes to most people in Byron Bay, and everyone The Northern Star spoke to would like to see Hogan stay here during his exile – and for the ATO to leave them alone.

“We'd love to have him back in the Bay,” Sevegne Newton, president of Byron United, said.

“He was always a great contributor to the town and will always be welcome.

“He should let his lawyers and the ATO sort out his tax problems and come up here and chill out among his friends.”

Another business owner's message to Hogan was ‘we will welcome you with open hearts'.

“The ATO is cutting off its nose to spite its face. It's despicable,” the man said.

He wanted to create a ‘Get off his back you boofheads' website.

“Most Australians reckon he's paid enough. He's an icon and a living treasure,” the man said.

Hogan and Cornell worked together on the hit Crocodile Dundee films, which made their fortunes.

Hogan owned a property in Possum Creek for many years, which he sold in 2006 for $8.1 million.

Cornell remains a much-loved resident of the shire, well-known for developing the Beach Hotel, which he sold for $65 million in 2007.

He has Parkinson's disease, but has bounced back after responding to radical brain stimulation treatment.

The two men are ‘a protected species around here', another businessman said.

And in old-school Byron tolerance mode, one woman said: “I don't like to see anyone persecuted.

“With those ‘another shrimp on the barbie ads' he really put Australia on the map. He must have brought a huge amount of money into the country,” she said.

Owen Lynn, principal of the Professionals Real Estate, didn't mince his words about the ATO.

“They're nothing but a pack of thieving mongrel vultures,” he said. “Hogan's a man who came from nothing, worked for nothing, and went on to make every Australian happy. He's made every community he lived in a better place.”

Paul Everingham took an ecological view: “Belongil estuary needs a good Aussie bushman like Hoges to come back and battle the feral dogs, pervs and crocodiles that are playing havoc with the shorebirds at the estuary,” he said.

His mate declared: “Paul Hogan for mayor.”