An unidentified man was in critical condition after setting himself on fire outside Australia's parliament today.
Witnesses said a large group of schoolchildren had seen the man set himself ablaze after apparently dousing himself with a flammable liquid.
Police were questioning some of the children in a bid to discover more details about the rare incident of violent protest in politically stable Australia.
"This is the first incident of this kind that I am aware of here at parliament house in my 17 years of policing," police spokesman Sergeant Steve Mullins told reporters.
"We don't know who he is, we don't know what his motivation is," he said.
Parliamentary security staff doused the flames before the man was rushed to Canberra hospital.
Police said the man suffered burns to at least 50 per cent of his body. He was later airlifted to a specialist burns unit at a Sydney hospital, where he was said to be in a critical condition.