Oblique rifting in the offshore Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand, is expressed in widely distributed active normal faulting in the 20-km-wide Whakatane Graben. Active faults are identified along seafloor scarps and displacements of the post-last glacial transgressive ravinement surface (400 faults. We derive an extension rate at seismogenic depths (6--10 km) across the graben of 13 ¿ 6 mm yr-1, by summing surface measurements, assuming an average crustal fault dip of 45 ¿ 15¿, and correcting for the discrepancies between surface and deep crustal extension estimates. Structural and kinematic data implies an extension direction 20¿ oblique to the rift axis, resulting in up to 4.6 ¿ 2.1 mm yr-1 of dextral motion parallel to the rift axis. The strike-slip motion is accommodated by dip-slip displacements on oblique faults in the center of the graben, and oblique-slip faulting along the rift margins. Pure dip-slip in the graben center represents >50% of the total slip, with the Rangitaiki Fault accommodating 25% of the total extension in the graben.