Scott Morrison's own conduct should now be the subject of the inquiry he has commissioned into the chaos and disaster that unfolded on Manus Island last week.

The inquiry's terms of reference should be widened to include who gave the Immigration Minister such wildly inaccurate information after the violence - and what steps he took to verify it before going public.

The minister now concedes he was wrong to assert, without qualification, that 23-year-old Iranian Reza Barati was killed outside the detention centre when he and others "absconded" from the "safety" it afforded. But this is not the only one of his initial assertions that is in dispute. He also said the asylum seeker who was shot in the buttocks received his wound "outside the centre", that just two shots were fired and there was no suggestion anyone employed by security contractor G4S was involved. All have been challenged.

Even when he conceded that there were "conflicting reports" about where Mr Barati died, Mr Morrison insisted, again without qualification, he could "guarantee" the safety of asylum seekers who remain in the centre and who "conduct themselves" appropriately.