do I really have to get a haircut (and cover my tatts and remove my piercings) to get a real job?

With decades of experience in corporate environments both as a grunt and as a decision maker, I have witnessed the results of all sorts of interesting decisions about personal branding.

When I say branding, I mean in the overall sense, not just in the burning or scarification sense, although the latter is often a component of the former.

Most people I know who include piercing, tattoos and other body mods in their personal brand, have done so in a way that does not affect perceptions at work. 

It's still a fact that many large corporates are very conservative. Even though tattoos are pretty mainstream, the old manager who is not far from retirement, and has worked her way up from bank teller or cashier, will not wish her boss, who is older and even more conservative, to see that she hired someone with visible tatts on their wrist, arm or neck, no matter how artistic or tasteful it is. 

There are airlines that, if you're lucky enough to be hired with a visible tattoo, you will be required to cover it with a bandage. 

i am praying that religious education will be removed from the Victorian state school curriculum

When I was a child, I had a note from my parents that excused me from religious instruction. This was mainly due to my mother's wishes. She was as staunch an atheist as anyone I have ever met. I believe the class was somewhere from half an hour to an hour a week, during which time myself, a Japanese kid and another boy who I now assume was Jewish, would sit and draw or read. 

It wasn't exactly wasted time, as I have fond memories of how quiet and relaxing it was. A much more effective alternative however would have been to have the whole class sit through a session on ethics, rationality and morality as applied to society as a whole, taken by a real teacher.