'Sometimes I say a lot of wrong things before I get the right thing out of my mouth,' Hamilton City councillor Siggi Henry says (file photo).

Migrants to Hamilton might never have used a toilet before, a Hamilton City councillor has said.

But Siggi Henry later said she didn't mean the comment.

Henry said it at a council briefing when she and her peers were talking about the unexpected things which end up in the wastewater network.

"It just came out of my mouth. It wasn't actually meant that way," she later said.

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"Sometimes you have to talk about things a few times before your brain engages.

"I just couldn't think of anything, why would people throw things into toilets.

"I don't know why people throw sheets down the toilet. But toys, I know, because kids do that."

Henry has previously attracted attention for her comments in a council meeting, when she suggested falling fat people could be a health risk.

She herself is a migrant who came to New Zealand from Germany 30 years ago - "and we do have toilets".

"Do you think I would bag migrants? I don't think so," she said. "I think they are amazing people that come here, because it's not easy."

It took her about two years to get used to New Zealand, she said, and she wanted to go back to Germany on many occasions.

But Henry said talking is the way she thinks things through. "Sometimes I say a lot of wrong things before I get the right thing out of my mouth.

"We're all different and sometimes we speak out differently."

Councillor Geoff Taylor said he was disappointed but not surprised by Henry's remark.

"She actually needs to be a bit more careful about what she says - especially in a public forum," he said. "As a migrant herself, she should be acutely aware of how hard it is."

Everyone has said something and found it didn't come out right, he said, but if it keeps happening you probably need to look at what you're doing. Councillors' comments also reflect on the organisation, he said.

Henry's comment puzzled Deputy Mayor Martin Gallagher, who said he was not sure where she was coming from.

"From my experience you do [have to be careful what you say as an elected member], but we're human... You're not speaking as a private person," he said.

He's said stuff that's come out the wrong way, he said, he hopes he was quick to apologise.

Councillor Paula Southgate said she wasn't responsible for what her colleagues said, and councillors sometimes exchanged silly comments.

"There are a lot of things that get said that I personally wouldn't say," she said.

"We have just got to focus on the issue. And the issue is that all people of Hamilton put things down the toilet that don't need to go there."

That includes whole towels, cigarette packs, kids' toys, sanitary products, and nappies.

"Safe to say they do have to filter out quite a lot of solid matter before they get to the business of treating the waste."

The issue of what can go down the loo is a recurring one for Hamilton City Council.

T-shirts, nappies, bits of wood and dentures have previously made their way into the sewer system.

A council mailout in September 2015 explained items that shouldn't be flushed.

Banned items include concrete, towels, pantyhose and colostomy bags.