NO, BOB, CONSERVATIVES STILL BELIEVE IN FREEDOM

Bob Carr on the coronavirus crisis: "If capitalism is so good, why does it need socialism to save it every decade?"  Actually, if socialism is so good, why does capitalism keep replacing it?  And Carr confuses temporary with permanent: "It’s conservatives themselves junking Bill Clinton’s 1996 observation that 'the era of big government is over'." 

Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr on the coronavirus crisis:  

 If capitalism is so good, why does it need socialism to save it every decade? 

Actually, if socialism is so good, why does capitalism keep replacing it?

But I'm puzzled: where is the textbook that says capitalism has no place at all for government intervention to preserve it or save the citizenry in a crisis?

Carr claims:

Has any earlier time witnessed such an overnight junking of ideology?... But now it’s conservatives themselves junking Bill Clinton’s 1996 observation that “the era of big government is over”. 

That's confusing what conservatives say is necessary now to save lives with what conservatives say will be necessary again when people dare to leave their homes and go to work.

Can Carr quote a single free-market conservative of note who says we should now have socialism for the rest of our lives?

Straw man argument.