Definitely in terms of research. Is there actually "teaching quality" at public schools? Much worse than LACs and private schools, not even close.
Not in terms of research, but in terms of education, yes.
You may wish to check out the courses offered by Monash econometrics/stats department, or the econ courses offered by UNSW.
These courses are much more rigorous than offered by my US MRM.None of the Aus schools is comparable with top30 in the US. This is sad but true.