[1] The division was created in 1998 and is named after Harold Blair, an Aboriginal singer and civil rights campaigner.

The Division is based on Ipswich, and extends from rural and exurban areas west of Brisbane to the Scenic Rim and Lockyer Valley regions.

Oxley was reconfigured into an exclusively Brisbane-based seat that tilted strongly toward Labor, while most of the rural area near Ipswich shifted to Blair.

Conservative-leaning Esk, Nanango and Kingaroy were transferred to Maranoa, while Blair was pushed further into Ipswich and Boonah.

Blair had been rated as having received more funding promises from the Howard government than any other electorate in the country.