After completing working-up exercises, in May 1973, "Labuan" transported Clearance Diving Team One (CDT1) to Moreton Island to destroy a World War II era torpedo. In August, CDT1 was embarked again aboard "Labuan", this time for a two-month deployment to Papua New Guinea. Between 15 August and 12 October, the landing craft visited communities around Papua New Guinea, with the clearance divers clearing reef passages and disposing of unexploded ordnance from World War II. After CDT1 flew back to Australia on 12 October, "Labuan" surveyed the Fly River, reaching . On 19 October, the vessel left Papua New Guinea and sailed to Cairns with sister ship . In November, "Labuan" was used for the Army exercise Temple Tower. On 21 November, "Labuan" and two fishing boats towed the rafts of the Las Balsas Expedition into the mouth of the Richmond River, after the rafts drifted off course on the final leg of their trans-Pacific voyage.