In a statement to , the company said planning for the initiative -- which involves the abolition of call charges to a number of front-line national child safety, emergency services and suicide prevention hotlines -- started before the series of negative events for VHA partner, Vodafone.
"We started planning for this initiative in September last year," a VHA spokesperson said. "A large number of calls made to services like Kids Helpline and Lifeline are made from mobiles.
"We felt it was important to recognise this and support our customers in a time of need and remove the financial barrier. We hope that by making these calls free, we will help customers in a time of need.
"This is a proactive initiative that has been driven by VHA."
The last few months have been far from easy for the telco with market research firm, Roy Morgan, last month delivering another blow to Vodafone with findings that .
into the billing and call records delivered a mixed result, but did find failings on the telco's behalf.
In January, Vodafone was struck by a damning report that outlined thousands of complaints ranging from to poor customer service.
The telco responded that it was .
Earlier this year, as many as , according to the legal firm handling the action, Piper Alderman. The figure is now in excess of 20,000.