Screen Australia has responded to industry concerns that the rules for official co-productions are overly complex and inflexible.
Development may count for the first time towards the points test to determine whether film and TV drama projects qualify as international co-productions.
Australia and Malaysia have finalised a bilateral film co-production agreement, paving the way for producers in both countries to collaborate more closely on projects for the big and small screen.
While the official co-production treaty between Australia and China entered into force in 2008, only a handful of official co-productions have been made so far.
Only six films have been produced as official Australian-Chinese co-productions since the treaty came into effect in 2008, a state of arrested development which Mark Lazarus aims to change.