Blaxland runs from the M4 motorway line in the north to Marion Street and the Bankstown railway line and M5 motorway in the south, between Woodville Road in the west and Stacey Street in the east, covering 61 square kilometres of Labor heartland in the Cumberland and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas in Sydney's west,[1] with strong Middle Eastern and East Asian communities.

The division was created in 1949 and is named after Gregory Blaxland, a farmer and an early Australian explorer of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

In 2007, Keating's successor, Michael Hatton, lost preselection for this seat to current member Jason Clare, who was a staffer for former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr.

[7] The division is based in the western suburbs of Sydney, and includes the suburbs of Bass Hill, Berala, Birrong, Chester Hill, Georges Hall, Lansdowne, Lansvale, Potts Hill, Regents Park, Sefton, and Yagoona; and parts of the business park and airport at Bankstown Airport; as well as parts of Auburn, Bankstown, Canley Vale, Carramar, Condell Park, Guildford, Lidcombe, Merrylands, South Granville, Villawood, and Yennora.

Blaxland is a socially conservative[5] and historically working-class electorate[6] which includes sizable immigrant populations from China, Vietnam, and the Middle East.