In November 1975, he was allegedly the co-instigator, with Gough Whitlam and Bill Hartley, of an unsuccessful approach to Saddam Hussein's Iraq for a gift of $US 500,000 to help fund Labor's 1975 election campaign.
[2] However former Labor Party leader, Bill Hayden, later Governor-General of Australia, in his autobiography published in 1996, reflected the doubts held by some about the blame attached to Combe over the episode when he said that " ... it appeared that the national secretary of the Party, David Combe, was being left isolated as a scapegoat in this fanciful escapade.
In an article published in The Bulletin in January 1982 Combe suggested that Labor's defeat was partly due to the influence of the CIA.
Soon after the formation of the Hawke government ASIO raised concerns that Combe, closely aligned to the ALP, might be being compromised by a Soviet citizen with KGB links.
[11] From March 2001 to November 2003 Combe was a non-executive director for the Western Australian wine producer Evans and Tate Limited.
[citation needed] In 2004, in a speech at Bordeaux, he lambasted the wine-purchasing policies of UK supermarkets, which, he said, "if committed in Australia, would represent major breaches of the trade practices laws".
"[15] His friend Richard Whitington, in an affectionate obituary, said that "the twists and turns in David Combe's life and career demanded courage and resilience of him and he displayed those qualities consistently and in abundance."