European settlement 'an invasion': council

NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister Victor Dominello says describing European settlement as an "invasion" is divisive, but has stopped short of criticising the City of Sydney Council for doing so in its official documents.

Councillors on Monday night voted to include the word "invasion" in council's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander statement, sparking complaints that they were rewriting history about the arrival of Europeans.

Mr Dominello said that while the change was a matter for the City of Sydney, such divisive language was counterproductive to the reconciliation process.

"I want to be very clear that reconciliation and progress can only be built on language that unifies us, not language that divides us," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

"I understand that some people have a belief that that's what took place, but that can be a matter for debate, and quite frankly it should be a matter for historians."